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Caius Julius C^sar. 



ECLECTIC SCHOOL READINGS 



STORY OF C^SAR 



BY 



M: CLARKE 



AUTHOR OF ''STORY OF TROY," "STORY OF ^NEAS." 




TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 

NEW YORK :■ CINCINNATI •:"• CHICAGO 

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY2„^ COPY 

^ ^ V 1898, 



o 



840 



Copyright, i8q8, by 
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY. 



Story of Caesar. 
W. P. I 



-<,- 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. PAGE 

Rome before C^sar 7 

CHAPTER n. 
Early Life of C^sar 21 

CHAPTER in. 

Consulship of "Julius and C^sar " — A Roman Triumph . . 31 

CHAPTER IV. 
Conquests in Gaul 49 

CHAPTER V. 
A Famous Bridge — C^sar in Britain .67 

CHAPTER VI. 

C^.SAR Crosses the Rubicon — "The die is cast'' 82 

CHAPTER VII. 
Pompey Defeated gi 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Victories in Africa and Asia — Rejoicings in Rome .... loi 

CHAPTER IX. 
Ci^SAR's Death 112 

CHAPTER X. 

Shakespeare's Story of the Death of C^sar 120 

CHAPTER XI. 

Opinions of Eminent Writers on the Character of C^sar . 149 

[5] 



STORY OF Cy^SAR. 



I. ROME BEFORE C^SAR. 

Amid these small republics one arose 
On Yellow Tiber's bank, almighty Rome. 



Thomson. 



Two thousand years ago — about the beginning 
of the Christian era — the Roman Empire was at 
the height of its power and glory. Its capital was 
Rome, situated on the banks of the river Tiber in 
Italy, 14 miles from the place where it flows into 
the Mediterranean Sea. At that time the Roman 
Empire contained nearly all the countries of Europe, 
as well as parts of Asia and Africa, and Rome was 
the largest and richest city of the world. 

We have no reliable knowledge of the early his- 
tory of this famous city. We do not know for a 
certainty by whom it was built or first settled, but 
there is an ancient story or tradition which tells us 
that it was founded by Rom'u-lus, that from him the 
city got its name, and that he was its first king. 
From the same tradition we learn that Romulus 

[7] 



was one of twin brothers, the sons of Mars, the 
god of war, and that his mother was a descendant 
of I-u'lus, son of the Trojan hero yE-ne'as, who 
settled in Italy some years after the destruction of 
Troy by the Greeks (about 1 184 B. C.) The legend 
of ^neas and his wanderings is told at great length 
in a celebrated Latin poem called the ^-ne'id, 
written by the Roman poet Ver'gil, who lived in 
the last century before the Christian era. 

Rome was founded in the year 753 B. C. It was 
ruled by kings for 245 years. There w^as also a 
Senate which had three hundred members, (in later 
times six hundred) who were appointed by the king 
and held office for life. They were chosen from the 
elderly men of the oldest families of the city ; hence 
the name senate, which is derived from senex, the 
Latin word for old. 

The heads of those old families were called Pa- 
tricians, from pater, the Latin word for father. 
They were the descendants of the first settlers or 
property holders, or fathers of the city. The com- 
mon class were called Plebeians from the Latin 
plebs, the common people. These were descendants 
of later settlers, or persons who had come from the 
country districts of Italy to live in Rome. 

Besides the Senate there were assemblies of the 
people called Co-mi'tia, a word meaning going 



9 

together. These assemblies were of three kinds, the 
Comitia Curi-a'ta, of which only patricians could be 
members ; the Comitia Cen-tu-ri-ala, which was 
composed of patricians and plebeians ; and the 
Comitia Tri-bu'ta, the members of which were 
plebeians. 

At first the comitia curiata made the laws, but 
in course of time this power was exercised by the 
comitia centuriata and the comitia tributa. No 
law could, however, be proposed at the comitia 
without the approval of the Senate. The Senate 
therefore was the most powerful body in Rome, 
since it could prevent the making of laws which it 
did not like. 

The comitia held their meetings in a place 
called the Fo'rum. This was a large open space 
in the city, which was also used as a market. It 
was surrounded by fine statues, grand temples, 
courts of justice and other public buildings. 

But though there were laws in Rome even in 
the earliest times, the kings did not always act in 
accordance with the laws. They more frequently 
ruled as pleased themselves, and some of them were 
cruel tyrants. The last king was called Tarquin 
the Proud. He was so bad a king that the people 
rose up against him, drove him and his family away 
from the city, and made their country a republic, 




»■ i"' <^«.-<S.-=r> 



(io) 



Consul, attended by lictors. 



II 

and ever afterwards the Romans hated the very 
name of king. 

The kingdom of Rome was not very large. It 
contained only the city itself and a few districts 
around it. But under the Republic the Romans 
conquered not only all Italy, but nearly all the coun- 
tries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. 

The Republic existed for 460 years — from 508 
B. C. to 48 B. C. Instead of a king there were two 
presidents called Consuls who were elected at the 
assemblies of the people and held office for one 
year. 

The consuls had great power and authority. 
They appointed the members of the Senate. They 
were the commanders of the Roman armies, and 
the chief judges of the Republic. All other officers 
of government were subject to them, except the 
Trib'unes of the People, of whom we shall learn 
later on. When the consuls appeared in public 
they were attended by officers called Lic'tors, each 
carrying an ax bound up in a bundle of rods. This 
was called the Fas'ces, and it was an emblem of the 
authority of the consuls to punish criminals by 
scourging or by death. At the end of their year 
of office the consuls got the title of Pro-consul, and 
were made governors of provinces, where they ruled 
with the power of kings. The provinces were 



12 

countries outside of Italy, that had been conquered 
by Rome. 

In the Roman RepubHc more than half the popu- 
lation were slaves. These were not permitted to 
have anything to do with affairs of government. 
They were not regarded as forming any part of 
what was known as "the Roman people." But 
even the free citizens of Rome had not equal 
rights. In the early times of the Republic the 
plebeians were not allowed to hold any of the high 
offices of government, though they voted at the 
assemblies of the people for making laws and elect- 
ing consuls. A plebeian could not be a senator, or 
a consul or a judge. ' For a long time this was the 
cause of much strife between the two classes. ^- 

There was also a great deal of strife about the 
ownership of land. Portions of the lands conquered 
by the Romans were sometimes made public prop- 
erty, or government lands. At first these lands were 
divided among the citizens, or allotted to citizens 
who had not land enough to support their families. 
This was in " the brave days of old " referred to by 
Lord Macaulay in his Lays of Ancient Rome: 

Then none was for a party; 

Then all were for the state; 
Then the great man helped the poor, 

And the poor man loved the great: 



13 

Then lands were fairly portioned; 

Then spoils were fairly sold; 
The Romans were like brothers 

In the brave days of old. 

But after a time the government lands, instead of 
being fairly divided, were given or sold to patrician 
families, who thus became owners of vast estates, 
and in many cases held those estates without pay- 
ing rent or taxes. Nearly all the taxes were paid 
by the plebeians. The plebeians also did most of the 
fighting. Every Roman citizen had to be a soldier, 
and, while fighting Rome's battles, the plebeian 
soldiers could not attend to the tilling of their small 
farms. 

The plebeians, therefore, became poorer and 
poorer, and their poverty was made harder by debt. 
They often had to borrow money to pay taxes and 
to support their families. The patricians, who were 
the money lenders, charged a high rate of interest, 
and the Roman laws were very severe against 
debtors. A debtor's land might be seized by his 
creditors, and the debtor himself thrown into prison, 
or he and his wife and children sold as slaves. 

This was the cause of frequent quarrels between 
the patricians and plebeians. At last the plebeians, 
seeing no hope of getting justice in Rome, with- 
drew from the city. Most of them were soldiers 



H 

who had just returned after winning battles for the 
Republic in one of her wars, and they were ordered 
to march again to fight the enemies of Rome. But 
instead of obeying the order, they encamped upon 
a hill three miles outside the city. Here they in- 
tended to make a settlement and build a town for 
themselves. 

The patricians were much frightened at this. 
Without the plebeians there would be no soldiers 
to fight Rome's battles, and the city would be left 
without means of defence against enemies. The 
patricians, therefore, feeling that something had to 
be done to save Rome from so great a danger, 
agreed that the plebeians should have officers of 
their own, to be their friends and protectors. The 
new officers were called Tribunes of the People. 
They were elected every year at assemblies where 
only plebeians voted, and only plebeians could be 
elected. At first there were two tribunes, but 
afterwards the number was increased to ten. 

The tribunes had great power. They could 
veto, that is forbid, the carrying out of decrees or 
orders of the Senate, or of any public officer. They 
could pardon offences, prevent imprisonment for 
debt, and in many other ways greatly help the 
poorer citizens. 

But the plebeians were still kept out of all the 



15 

offices except that of tribune. They did not get 
their share of the pubhc lands, and they still had 
to pay nearly all the taxes. So the struggle con- 
tinued between the two classes or parties — the 
patrician or Senate party and the party of the 
people. Sometimes the people got the better of 
the patricians and good laws were passed, but the 
patrician party very often prevented those laws from 
being carried out. 

The patricians were able to do this because they 
were rich men and had numbers of followers ready 
to do their bidding. They sometimes got persons 
put to death who tried to have laws made for giving 
justice to the plebeians. There was a tribune 
named Ti-be'ri-us Sem-pro'ni-us Grac'chus who 
proposed a law that no citizen should have more 
than 300 acres of public land. It was one of the 
laws known as A-gra'ri-an laws, from ager, the 
Latin word for field. This law would have com- 
pelled the patricians to give up a great portion of 
the public land which they held, and there would 
then be some to be divided among poor citizens. 
That such a law was much needed, the Tribune 
Gracchus showed in an eloquent speech in the 
forum, in which he said: 

" The wild beasts of Italy have their caves, but 
the brave men who shed their blood in her cause 



i6 

have nothing but air and light. Without houses 
they wander from place to place with their wives 
and children. The generals at the head of our 
armies do but mock their men when they exhort 
them to fight for country and home ; for among 
such numbers, there is perhaps not one who has a 
home to fight for. The private soldiers fight and 
die to increase the wealth and luxury of the great, 
and they are called 'masters of the world' while 
they have not a foot of ground in their possession." 

But the eloquence of Gracchus was of no use. 
The agrarian law was passed at the people's assem- 
bly, but the patricians would not allow it to be car- 
ried out, and they made up their minds to put 
Gracchus to death. And on election day when the 
people were voting to make their friend and cham- 
pion tribune for a second term, the patricians 
or nobles came with a number of their followers 
and slew Gracchus and three hundred of his 
supporters. 

Some time after the death of Tiberius, his brother 
Ca'i-us, who was also a tribune, proposed that colo- 
nies should be established in different parts of the 
Roman provinces, where homes might be provided 
for poor families. He also got a law passed that 
freemen of the country towns of Italy should have 
the right of voting at elections, the same as the 



17 

citizens of Rome. But the patricians were against 
this law too, and Caius Gracchus met with the fate 
of his brother. He was killed, it is said at his own 
request, by one of his slaves, in order that he might 
escape death at the hands of his enemies. 

Thus did the patricians of Rome oppose the 
efforts of the people to obtain justice. Sometimes, 
however, the people got the better of the patricians. 
They gained an important victory in compelling 
the Senate to agree to a law that plebeians might 
be elected to the office of consul. The first ple- 
beian consul was elected in the year ^SS B. C. 
Later on, nearly all the other offices were opened 
to the plebeians. 

The office of consul was the chief object of a 
Roman citizen's ambition. All the great men of 
Rome who took active part in public affairs held 
that office at one time or another, and they looked 
upon it as the highest honor that could be conferred 
upon them. But although the plebeians were ad- 
mitted to the consulship and other offices, the party 
contest continued. And in course of time some 
patricians began to be friendly to the cause of the 
people and to become their champions. Caius 
Juli-us Cae'sar, about whom we are to tell in this 
book, was one of these. At the period of his birth 
and during his boyhood, there was a great struggle 

" STO. OF C^SAR — 2 



i8 

between the two parties led by two famous men, 
Ma'ri-us and Sul'la. 

Marius was by birth a plebeian ; Sulla was a 
patrician and leader of the patrician or Senate party. 
Both were great generals and had fought and won 
many battles in the wars of the Republic. In the 
year 88 B. C. Rome began a war against Mith-ri- 
da'tes, a powerful Asiatic king, who had invaded a 
Roman province in Asia Minor and put to death 
a number of Roman citizens. Marius wanted very 
much to have the command in this war. The Sen- 
ate, however, appointed Sulla, but the appointment 
was set aside by a decree of the people's assembly, 
and Sulla was ordered to turn over the command to 
Marius. Instead of obeying the order, Sulla, who 
was then preparing to start for Asia, led his army 
to Rome and entered the city. As his soldiers were 
marching through the streets, they were attacked 
by the supporters of Marius, and thus Rome was 
plunged into the horrors of civil war. Marius was 
defeated and had to flee for his life. Sulla then 
set out with his army to fight Mithridates. 

After Sulla's departure the Marians again got 
their forces together, and invited their leader to 
return to Rome. Marius who had been in conceal- 
ment in Africa, came back at the head of an army, 
and on his arrival in the city put great numbers of 



19 

the supporters of Sulla to death. Soon after this 
he died. 

His successor as leader of the party opposed to 
the Senate was Cin'na. He was killed, in a mutiny, 
by one of his own soldiers, while he was preparing 
to lead an army against Sulla, on the latter's return 
from Asia. The next leader of the people's party 
was another Marius, son of the former general of 
that name. 

Sulla won many victories in Asia over King Mith- 
ridates, after which he returned with his soldiers to 
Italy. Outside the gates of Rome he fought a 
great battle with the Marians and totally defeated 
them. Then followed the terrible Proscriptions. 
By Sulla's order the names of the principal sup- 
porters of the Marian party were posted on lists in 
public places in Rome and other cities of Italy, and 
rewards were offered for the killing of the persons 
proscribed, that is of those whose names appeared 
on the lists. Many thousands of Roman citizens 
were thus proscribed and put to death. 

Sulla next got himself made Dic-ta'tor. This 
was an office still higher than that of consul, but it 
was not a permanent office. The law or custom 
was to appoint a dictator only at a time of serious 
danger, when it was thought necessary to give great 
power to one man in order to save the Republic. 



20 

The dictator was commander-in-chief of the army, 
and president of the Repubhc, with supreme con- 
trol over all other officers of government. The 
term of office of a dictator was six months. At the 
end of that time he had to resign, and no dictator 
was again appointed until another extraordinary 
danger or calamity threatened the Republic. But 
Sulla held the office for three years, after which he 
resigned and retired from public life. 

During his term as dictator, Sulla got many laws 
passed against the plebeians. One of his laws was 
that only senators could be judges; another that 
none but senators could be elected tribunes, and so 
he took from the people the office which, as we have 
seen, was established specially for them. He also 
divided amongr his own soldiers lands which he had 
taken from the proscribed members of the peo- 
ple's party. Thus the strife between the two classes 
became more bitter than ever. 



IL EARLY LIFE OF C^SAR. 

Great Julius whom now all the world admires, 
The more he grew in years, the more inflam'd 
With glory, wept that he lived so long 
Inglorious. 

■^ Milton. 

It was during Sulla's proscriptions that the name 
of Caius Julius C^sar first came into notice in Rome, 
Jhis great man was born in the year 102 B. C. 
He belonged to a patrician family which claimed 
descent from lulus, son of the Trojan hero ^neas, 
the name Julius, or lulius as it is written in Latin, 
being derived from lulus. Caius was a common 
first name among the Romans. The surname 
Caesar is said to have been given to a member of 
the Julian family who was born with a great quan- 
tity of hair, ccB-sari-es being the Latin word for a 
bush of hair. 

Many of the C^sars held high ofhce in the 

Roman Republic. The father of Caius Julius held 

the office of Prse'tor or judge. But the greatest of 

the family, and the greatest of all Romans was the 

wonderful man whose story we are about to tell. 

[21] 



22 



From the great deeds and great power of Caesar, 
the name has come down to our time as meaning 
kingly or imperial authority. Caesar was the first 
Roman emperor. All the succeeding emperors bore 
his name as a part of their title. The xiame has 
been adopted in an altered form in the title of the 
German emperor, who is called the Kaiser^ and in 
the title of the emperor of Russia, who is called 
the Czar. 

Many great men have excelled in only one or two 
things. Many great generals have been great only 
in war. Many great statesmen have been great only 
in affairs of government. C^sar excelled in almost 
everything. Rome produced a number of great 
generals. Caesar was the greatest of them all. An 
ancient author tell us that, " in less than ten years' 
war in Gaul he took eight hundred cities, con- 
quered three hundred nations, and fought battles with 
three millions of men." Rome produced many great 
public speakers. Caesar was the greatest of them, 
except Cic'e-ro, who was one of the two greatest 
orators of the ancient world. 

Caesar was a great historian. He wrote a history 
of some of his own wars, which is one of the books 
used in our schools. Ceesar was a great statesman. 
He knew how to govern a country as well as to 
conquer it. He was a great jurist, that is, he had 



23 

an extensive knowledge of law. He was a great 
scholar. He was skilled in most of the branches of 
learning known in his time. He was a mathemati- 
cian, an astronomer, and an architect. He wrote a 
book upon grammar. Pliny, a Roman historian, 
who lived in the first century of the Christian era, 
tells us that "He was accustomed to read, write, dic- 
tate and listen at the same time," and that " he often 
dictated to his secretaries four letters at one time on 
the most important subjects." It is also said that 
during one of his military campaigns, "he accus- 
tomed himself to dictate letters as he rode on horse- 
back, and found sufficient employment for two 
secretaries at once." 

A wonderful man was this Caesar — 
Who could both write and fight, and in both was equally 
skillful. 

Longfellow. 

Caesar's school education was the best that Roman 
boys of the wealthiest families received. We are 
told that he was " a tall, slight, handsome youth, with 
dark, piercing eyes, a fair complexion, large nose, 
full lips, and features refined and intellectual," and 
that, " he -was particular in his appearance, used the 
bath frequently, and attended carefully to his hair." 
He had great love and reverence for his mother, 
whose name was Au-reli-a. He had the deepest 



24 

veneration for her, and she in turn had a strong 
influence over him. 

At an early age Caesar began to take part in poh- 
tics. Though he was by birth a patrician, his sym- 
pathies were with the people. It seemed to him to 
be unjust that nearly all the high offices of govern- 
ment should be held by rich men, and that most of 
the land of Italy should be owned by a few wealthy 
families. This was still the state of things in the 
Roman Republic when he was a young man. 

Caesar was connected by family relationship with 
some of the popular leaders. His first wife, Cor- 
ne'li-a, whom he married when he was 1 7 years of 
age, was a daughter of Cinna. His aunt, the sister 
of his father, was married to the great Marius. 

When a boy of only 16, Caesar was made Fla'men 
or priest of Ju'pi-ter, through the influence of 
Marius. This was a very important office. The 
ancient Romans believed that there were a great 
many gods, and that there was a chief, or king, of 
the gods whom they called Jupiter.* They had 
priests who devoted themselves to the service of 
particular gods, such as priests of Jupiter, priests of 
Mars and the like. The reliction of the Romans 
was part of their system of government. It was 
under the direction of two councils or colleges — 
the College of Pontiffs and the College of Augurs. 



25 

The principal of the college of pontiffs was called 
Pon'ti-fex Max' im-us (Chief Pontiff). To be chief 
pontiff was esteemed a high honor, and the greatest 
men of Rome were very eager to obtain it. 

Young Caesar had a narrow escape from being 
one of the victims of Sulla's terrible proscriptions. 
The dictator ordered him to separate from his wife, 
the daughter of Cinna, because of the connection 
of her family with the Marian party. Caesar refused 
to do this, and fearing that the next order of the 
tyrant would be for his death, he fled from Rome. 
Sulla then deprived him of his office of flamen, and 
put his name upon the fatal list of the proscribed. 
But patrician friends interceded for him, saying to 
Sulla that there was " no need to put such a boy to 
death." Sulla's reply was very remarkable. " Be 
it so," said he, " since you will it, but I would have 
you know that he whom you ask me to pardon will 
one day ruin our party, for in this young Caesar 
there are many Mariuses." 

But though pardoned, Caesar did not think it safe 
to return to Rome at this time. We next hear of 
him at the court of King Nic-o-me'des of Bi-thyn'i-a 
(Asia Minor) by whom he was hospitably received. 
Soon afterwards he joined the Roman army at Mit- 
y-le'ne, a town in Lesbos, one of the Grecian islands. 
The Romans were besieging this town, which was 



26 

held by the troops of Mithridates, who had again 
taken up arms against Rome. During the siege 
young Caesar greatly distinguished himself. For 
saving the life of a comrade he was presented with 
a Civic Crown. The civic crown was regarded by 
the Romans as a very high honor, though it was 
but a wreath of oak leaves. It was given to any 
soldier who saved the life of a comrade in battle. 

As soon as Caesar heard of the death of Sulla, 
he returned to Rome. But he did not yet take very 
active part in political contests. Occasionally, how- 
ever, he made public speeches, in which he defended 
the cause of the people. He consequently became 
a favorite with the plebeians, who began to look upon 
him as their leader. 

After remaining a few years in Rome, he went to 
Rhodes (an island in the Mediterranean) to finish 
his study of oratory. He had studied at Rhodes 
before, and was already a good public speaker, but 
he wished to become a still better one. It was his 
ambition to excel in everything he attempted, and 
he particularly desired to excel in oratory. In 
ancient Rome, as in our own time and country, pub- 
lic speaking was one of the means by which political 
power and office were to be obtained. It was of 
even greater importance in Rome than it is with us. 
The Romans had no newspapers, and only those 



27 

who were very rich could have books, for the art of 
printing being then unknown, books were all in 
writing, so that to make even a few books took a 
lono- time. 

Public speaking was, therefore, their only way of 
addressing the people. When a Roman wanted to 
say anything to his countrymen — to tell them what 
he thought about government affairs, or to solicit 
their votes — he could do it only at a public meet- 
ing. For this reason the Romans held the art of 
oratory in high esteem. 

On his voyage to Rhodes, C^sar w^as captured 
by pirates. At that time many parts of the Medi- 
terranean were infested by bands of these sea-rob- 
bers, who cruised in fleets of swift-sailing boats or 
galleys, and attacked and plundered merchant ves- 
sels. Often they seized passengers and held them 
prisoners until they paid ransom. Plu'tarch, a 
famous Grecian biographer, who wrote the lives of 
many great men of ancient times, tells the story of 
Caesar among the pirates : 

"They asked only twenty talents [about $20,000] 
for his ransom. He laughed at their demand, see- 
ing that they did not know who he was, and prom- 
ised them fifty talents. To raise the money, he sent 
messeno^ers to different cities, and in the meantime 
remained with only one friend and two attendants, 



28 

among these pirates, who considered murder as a 
mere trifle. Caesar, however, held them in con- 
tempt. Whenever he wished to sleep, he would 
send them an order to keep silence. 

" Thus he lived among them thirty-eight days, as 
if they had been his guards of honor instead of his 
keepers. Perfectly fearless, he joined in their sports 
and took his exercises amono- them. He wrote 
poems and orations, and recited them to the pirates, 
and when they expressed no admiration, he called 
them dunces and barbarians. 

" When one of the pirates asked him what he would 
do if he had power to punish them, he answered 
that he would inflict the severest penalties of Roman 
law. They supposed that this was said in jest. But 
Caesar was as good as his word. When his messen- 
gers returned, the ransom was paid and he and his 
friends were set free. He then Q-ot too^ether a few 
ships, equipped them with men and arms, and pur- 
sued and captured the pirates. After compelling 
them to return the ransom money, he took them 
ashore and put them all to death." 

He now proceeded to Rhodes, where he remained 
for some time taking lessons in eloquence from 
Ap-ol-lo'ni-us Mo'lo, one of the great masters there, 
under whom he had formerly studied. From Rhodes 
he went to Asia Minor (B. C. 75), where the Roman 



29 

general Lu-curius was then carrying on the war 
against King Mithridates. Caesar, on his own 
authority, gathered together a body of troops 
and defeated the armies of Mithridates in several 
battles. 

Soon afterwards he returned to Rome. In his 
absence he had been elected pontiff. He was now 
elected Military Tribune, an office which gave him 
rank in the army as commander of a thousand men. 
His next office was that of Quses'tor, to which he 
was appointed B. C. 68. This entitled him to a seat 
in the Senate. The quaestors were the Roman treas- 
urers. They collected and took charge of the taxes, 
and kept account of the public income and expendi- 
ture. Quaestors accompanied the armies in time of 
war to pay the soldiers and collect the taxes in the 
provinces. 

Caesar now began to be more active in public 
affairs. This year (B. C. 68) his wife Cornelia, the 
daughter of Cinna, and his aunt Julia, the widow of 
Marius, died. There were grand funeral processions 
in honor of both. Caesar caused busts of Marius 
to be carried in the funeral procession of Julia, and 
he made funeral orations in the forum in which he 
spoke in praise of Marius and Cinna. This made 
the patricians very angry. But the people were 
delighted, and they applauded Caesar for his courage 



30 

in publicly honoring the men who had opposed the 
Senate party. 

Soon after the death of his wife, C^sar was sent 
as quaestor to Spain. An interesting anecdote is 
told of him at this time, which shows that even then 
his mind was filled with thoughts of glory and con- 
quest, and that he was unhappy because he had not 
yet done anything to make his name great in the 
world. It is said that he spent his leisure hours in 
reading about Alexander, the famous king of Mace- 
don. This king, known in history as Alexander the 
Great, died at the early age of 32, but in his short 
life he made vast conquests in many countries. Now 
Caesar was 32 years of age when he was quaestor in 
Spain. One day, during a visit to the Spanish town 
of Ga'des (modern Cadiz), he came upon a statue of 
Alexander in one of the public buildings. He gazed 
at it long and earnestly, and at length burst into 
tears. His friends, surprised at this, asked him the 
cause of his distress. He answered: 

" Do you not think I have sufficient reason for 
grief when Alexander, at my age, ruled over so many 
conquered countries, and I have not yet performed 
one glorious action ? " 



III. CONSULSHIP OF -JULIUS AND C^SAR"— 
A ROMAN TRIUMPH. 

Truly a wonderful man was Caius Julius Caesar, 
''Better be first," he said, "in a little I-be'ri-an village 
Than be second in Rome." 

Longfellow. 

The time for Caesar's glorious actions was, how- 
ever, approaching. Within a few years after his 
return from Spain he held, in succession, the offices 
of y^'dile, chief pontiff and praetor. 

The aediles had care of the public buildings of 
the city. They also took charge of the public 
entertainments, such as games of boxing, racing 
and wrestling, and shov/s of combats between 
gladiators. The gladiators were men — usually 
slaves — who fought with sv/ords in the theatres 
and circuses for the entertainment of the people. 
The Romans took great delight in such exhi- 
bitions. Their theatres were enormous buildings, 
open to the sky; some of them large enough to 
hold 30,000 persons. Their circuses, generally, used 
for race-courses, were still larger, one of them, 
called the Circus Maximus, a vast building of 

[31] 



32 

stone, being capable of accommodating over 1 50,000 
spectators. 

In the early years of the Republic, the shows and 
games were provided at government expense. But 
in later times rich men spent great sums of money 
in providing such entertainments, and by this means 
gained the favor of the people and their votes for 
election to office. Caesar, while he was sedile, ar- 
ranged for public amusements on a vast scale. He 
gave one exhibition in which three hundred and 
twenty pairs of gladiators appeared at the same 
time. He thus became more popular than ever, as 
was shown by his election to the high offices of 
pontifex maximus and praetor. 

The praetors had great power. They were mili- 
tary commanders as well as judges. At the end of 
Caesar's year of office as pr^tor, he became proprae- 
tor and was made governor of Lu-si-ta'ni-a, a prov- 
ince of Spain. He was now for the first time for- 
mally placed in command of an army, but he had 
thoughts and hopes of still higher honors and still 
greater power. We are told that on his journey to 
Spain, in passing through a small village, one of his 
friends asked him in a joking way, " Can there be 
here any disputes for offices, or contests for honors, 
or such ambition as we see among great men ? " 
Caesar answered in a very serious tone, " I assure 



33 

you, I would rather be the first man here than the 
second man in Rome." 

Upon his arrival in Spain he applied himself to 
business with great diligence. He conquered tribes 
that had never before been subject to Rome ; he put 
down bands of robbers that had infested several 
parts of the country ; he made peace between cities 
that had been at war with one another ; and he set- 
tled disputes between debtors and creditors. He 
also sent large sums of money to the government 
at Rome, and, it is said, " he did not forget to keep 
a large amount for his own use." 

Thus Caesar commenced his career as a general 
and statesman. Returning to Rome, B. C. 60, he 
became a candidate for the office of consul for the 
following year. The Senate party did all they could 
against him, but lie had very powerful friends. One 
of these was a man whose name will be frequently 
mentioned in our Story. This was Cne'i-us Pom- 
pe'i-us, called Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), 
because of his many victories in war when he was but 
a very young man. Pompey at first was a supporter 
of the Senate party. He fought under Sulla against 
Marius, but later he became favorable to the people's 
side. He was consul in the year 70 B. C. The other 
consul for the same year was Crassus, one of the mil- 
lionaires of Rome. It is said that during his term 

STO. OF C^SAR — 3 



34 

of office Crassus entertained the citizens at a great 
feast, served on 10,000 tables, and, that he gave the 
poor of the city a supply of provisions for three 
months. Such gifts — like the games and shows 
already mentioned — were among the means often 
employed by Roman politicians to gain the favor of 
the people. 

Now there was at this time a quarrel between 
Pompey and Crassus, each of them striving for 
greater power in public affairs than the other. Caesar 
persuaded them to become friends, and to join with 
him in a league for carrying out their political plans. 
Thus was formed the famous alliance which is known 
as the First Tri-um'vi-rate. The friendship between 
Caesar and Pompey was shortly afterwards made 
closer by the marriage of Pompey to Caesar's daugh- 
ter, Julia. 

Caesar was now elected to the consulship. The 
Senate opposed him, but he had the people on his 
side, and he was supported by the wealth of Crassus 
and the influence of Pompey. The consul elected 
with him was Bib 'u-lus. He was a friend of the 
Senate party, and acted against Caesar in everything 
he undertook to do. But the triumvirate were 
strong enough to carry out their plans in spite of 
Bibulus and the Senate. At last Bibulus, seeing 
that he could do nothing to prevent Caesar from hav- 



35 

ing his own way, gave up the struggle and took no 
further part in pubHc affairs during his term of ofHce. 
Caesar, therefore, was practically sole consul. It was, 
as a wit remarked, the year of the consulship of 
"Julius and Cccsar." The Romans did not use 
numerals in their dates as we do. To indicate the 
years they mentioned the names of the consuls. 
Thus in referring to the year B. C. 59, they would 
say, " in the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus." 

Caesar got many good laws passed during his con- 
sulship. They were called the Julian Laws. The 
most important of them was one for dividing public 
lands among poor citizens with large families, as the 
brothers Gracchus had tried to do in former years. 
But the Senate party were not now allowed to pre- 
vent the enforcement of the law. Csesar not only 
got his agrarian law passed, but he compelled the 
senators to take an oath that they would obey it. 

We can understand, then, why the Senate disliked 
Caesar, and how much they desired to restrict his 
influence and power. With this object they tried to 
prevent his appointment as governor of a province, 
at the end of his term of office as consul. It was 
usual, as we have said, for proconsuls to have such 
appointments, but the Senate thought they would 
make an exception in the case of Caesar, whose 
power they dreaded. Instead, therefore, of allotting 



36 

him a province, they proposed to make him super- 
intendent of forests and pubhc lands, an ofilice in 
which he would have nothino^ to do with armies or 
politics. 




Light-armed Soldier. 



But this attempt against the popular leader was 
defeated by his friends. A law was proposed and 



37 



passed at the people's assembly appointing Caesar 
proconsul of Cis-arpine Gaul and Il-lyr'i-cum for 
five years and giving him an army of three legions. 
The Senate, seeing that it was no longer of any use 
to oppose him, added to his command the province 
of Trans-arpine Gaul, and to his army another legion. 
Csesar was now about to enter the field of action 
in which he performed the wonderful exploits that 

made him famous. He had an 
army of four legions, to which he 
added two more legions in Gaul, 
having thus altogether about 
30,000 men at the beginning of 
his first campaign. The num- 
ber of men in a Roman legion 
was different at different times. 
Caesar's legions had each about 
4,000 or 5,000 infantry (foot- 
soldiers), and 300 cavalry (moun- 
ted soldiers.) 

And excellent soldiers they 
were — those Roman legionaries, 
as they were sometimes called — 
perhaps the best soldiers of the 
ancient world. They had prac- 
tice enough, at all events, for 
Soldier of the Legion. Rome was almost always at war, 




38 



as we learn from what we are told about the temple 
of Ja'nus. This was a temple erected in honor of 
Janus, an ancient Italian king. It stood in the forum 
and was built entirely of bronze. There was a rule, 
or law, that its gates should be open in time of war, 
and shut in time of peace, and so constantly were 

the Romans at war that in a 
period of eight hundred years, 
the temple gates were shut only 
three times. 

We see, therefore, that the 
Roman soldiers had plenty of 
experience in fighting. And 
almost all Roman citizens were 
soldiers. They were obliged to 
spend a number of years in the 
army, and the training or drill 
was very severe. Besides exer- 
cises in the use of weapons, they 
had to practice running, jump- 
ing, and swimming, — and they 
were taught to swim in full 
armor, that is, with their cloth- 
ing and weapons. Their uni- 
form was made to protect them 
against the blows of the enemy. 
Bowman. The helmet or cap was of brass 




39 

or leather ; the jacket, called a cuirass, was of leather ; 
and the greaves, or leggings, were of the same 
material. 

An important part of the Roman soldier's means 
of defence was the scu'tum or shield. This was 




Slinger. 



made of wood or wickerwork, plated with iron. It 
was four feet long, two and one half feet broad, and 
either oval or oblong. In fighting it was held on the 
left arm by handles, and could with ease be moved 




3 

2 

w 

O 

c75 



41 

rapidly up or down, or to either side, so as to pro- 
tect the whole body. 

The principal weapons of the Romans were the 
pi'lum and the glad'i-us. Of course they had no 
guns or cannon. Gunpowder, though said to 
have been known in China and India at a very early 
period, was not known in Europe for many centuries 
after Csesar's time. The pilum was a javelin or spear 
six feet long, ending in a sharp iron point. It was 
darted or hurled with great force, from a distance of 
twenty or thirty feet. The strong and active Roman 
soldiers were able to use it with terrible effect. The 
gladius was a short, stout, two-edged, pointed sword 
for close or hand-to-hand fighting. Bows and arrows, 
and slino^s for throwing^ stones were also used. 

The besieging of towns was an important part of 
ancient warfare. Towns with a large population 
were usually protected by strong walls, built all 
around them. In case an army came to attack one 
of those towns there was a siege, that is, when the 
the inhabitants refused to surrender, believing that 
they were strong enough to defend themselves. 
In such case the enemy might remain outside, 
trying to break down the walls, or to scale them 
with ladders. Sieges often lasted for months, some- 
times for years. So long as the people of the town 
had food and water enough, they might hold out 



42 




against the besiegers, unless the latter could take 
the town by storm, that is, by violent assault on the 
walls. 

The Romans had several kinds of engines for 

sieges. With the bal-lis'ta 
they hurled huge stones. 
The cat'a-pult was an en- 
%4 giriG for throwing heavy 

^^^^ spears, as large as beams. 

^V^ The battering-ram was 

for breaking in walls, strik- 
ing against them with tre- 
mendous force. It was a 
thick beam of wood, more 
than a hundred feet long, 
with a head of iron, or 
some other hard metal, 
formed somewhat like the 
head of a ram. This ani- 
mal when fighting, butts 
with its head, hence the 
Romans gave its name to 
their battering engine. 
Besides his weapons, the 
^_ Roman soldier carried 30 

or 40 pounds of baggage. 
Aguii.iFER. He had tools for cut- 




43 

ting and digging, such as axes, saws, and spades ; 
and he had his rations, or allowance of food, and his 
cooking vessels. The baggage was carried in a 
bundle called sar'ci-nse, fastened to the top of a forked 
pole. 

The Roman war standard or ensign was the figure 
of an eagle fixed on a long staff. Each legion had 
its standard, and the soldier who carried it was called 
a-quil'if-er, which is Latin for eagle-bearer. 

Roman soldiers were encouraged by rewards of 
various kinds to be brave in war. He who saved a 
comrade's life got a civic crown such as, we have 
seen, was given to Caesar at the siege of Mitylene. 
Rewards were given also to the soldier who killed 
or severely wounded an enemy in battle. The gen- 
eral who gained great victories was honored by a 
Triumph. This was a grand procession through the 
streets of Rome, and in it the victorious general 
rode at the head of his army, with the prisoners and 
rich spoils that had been taken from the enemy. 
The day of a triumph was observed as a holiday. 
All work was suspended, and stands were erected in 
the streets for the people to see the show. Plutarch 
thus describes the triumph given to a consul who 
had conquered a king and brought him prisoner to 
Rome. 

"In every theater or circus where games used to 




A Roman Triumph. 



U4) 



45 

be held, and in other parts of the city, which were 
convenient for seeing the procession, the people 
erected scaffolds, and on the day of the triumph 
were all dressed in white. The triumph took up 
three days. On the first were exhibited the images, 
paintings, and statues of enormous size, taken from 
the enemy, and now carried in two hundred and fifty 
chariots. 

" Next day the richest and most beautiful of the 
enemy's arms were carried in a great number of 
wagons. These arms glittered with polished brass 
and steel. Helmets were placed upon shields, and 
arrows lay huddled among horses' bits, with points 
of naked swords and long spears appearing through 
on every side. The arms were tied together loosely, 
so that room was left them to clatter as they were 
drawn along, and the clank of them was so harsh 
and terrible that they were not seen without dread, 
though they were among the spoils of the conquered. 
After the wagons loaded with arms, marched 3,000 
men who carried the silver money in 750 vessels. 
Others brought bowls, horns, goblets and cups, all 
of silver, and arranged so as to make the best 
show. 

" On the third day the trumpeters marched first, 
playing such airs as the Romans play when they 
encourage their soldiers to fight in battle. These 



■ / 

were followed by 120 fat oxen with their horns 
gilded, and led by young men, wearing belts of curi- 
ous workmanship. After them came boys who car- 
ried gold and silver vessels for the sacrifice to the 
gods. Next went persons that carried gold coin in 
vessels, and after them, those that bore the conse- 
crated bowl which the consul had caused to be made 
of gold and adorned with precious stones. After 
this was seen the king's chariot, with his armor upon 
it, and his diadem, and at a little distance, his chil- 
dren attended by a great number of masters and 
teachers. Behind the children and their attend- 
ants walked the captive king himself, clothed in 
black. He appeared as if overwhelmed with terror, 
and deprived of reason by the weight of his misfor- 
tunes. Next were carried 400 coronets of gold, which 
the cities had sent the consul, as compliments on his 
victory. Then came the consul himself, riding in a 
magnificent chariot, with a purple robe interwoven 
with gold, and bearing a branch of laurel in his 
right hand. His whole army followed the general's 
chariot, carrying laurel boughs and singing songs of 
victory." 

Macaulay, the historian, has written, in his Lays 
of Ancient Rome, some fine verses on a triumph 
given to the consul Ma'ni-us Cu'ri-us Den-ta'tus, who 
had twice before been honored in the same way. 



47 

Hurrah! for the great triumph 
That stretches many a mile. 

Hurrah! for the wan captives 
That pass in endless file. 

Hurrah! for the great triumph 

That stretches many a mile. 
Hurrah! for the rich dye of Tyre, 

And the fine web of Nile, 
The helmets gay with plumage 

Torn from the pheasant's wings, 
The belts set thick with starry gems 

That shone on Indian kings, 
The urns of massy silver, 

The goblets rough with gold. 
The many-colored tablets bright 

With loves and wars of old, 
The stone that breathes and struggles, 

The brass that seems to speak: — 
Such cunning they who dwell on high 

Have given unto the Greek. 
Hurrah! for Manius Curius, 

The bravest son of Rome, 
Thrice in utmost need sent forth. 

Thrice drawn in triumph home. 
Weave, weave, for Manius Curius, 

The third embroidered gown: 
Make ready the third lofty car. 

And twine the third green crown. 



IV. CONQUESTS IN GAUL. 

The Gaul shall come against thee 
From the land of snow and night; 
Thou shalt give his fair haired armies 
To the raven and the kite. 

Macaulay. 

Ancient Gaul included France and Belgium, and 
portions of Switzerland, Holland and Germany, 
together with the north of Italy, from the Apennine 
Mountains to the Alps. The north-of- Italy part was 
called Cisalpine Gaul, the word Cisalpine meaning 
07t this side of the Alps, that is the Italian side. 
Gaul on the other side of the Alps — the French 
side — was called Transalphie Gaul, Transalpine 
meaning beyond the Alps. The part of Gaul which 
the Romans possessed before Caesar's conquest was 
Cisalpine Gaul, together with the south of Trans- 
alpine Gaul — the portion bordering the Mediter- 
ranean sea. The Romans called this the Province. 
With a slightly altered spelling, {Provence,) the 
name is retained as one of the present geographical 
divisions of south France. Illyricum, the other 
district of Caesar's command, was a narrow strip of 

STO. OF C^SAR — 4 [49] 



50 

country lying along the Adriatic sea on the east, 
now part of Austria. 

That part of Gaul which did not belong to the 
Romans before Caesar's conquests was called Free 
Gaul. Caesar himself describes it in his famous 
history known as the Commentaries on the Gallic 
War. He tells us that the country was inhabited 
by three great nations, the Belgians, the Celts and 
the A-qui-ta'ni-ans. The Belgians occupied the north- 
east region, which included the country now called 
Belgium, together with portions of Holland, Ger- 
many and France. The Aquitanians occupied the 
south-west corner, between the river Garonne and 
the Pyrenees Mountains. All the rest of the country, 
from the Alps Mountains and the river Seine, to the 
Atlantic ocean and the English Channel, was Celtic 
Gaul. Each of these divisions contained many 
states, occupied by separate tribqs, and each tribe 
had its own government. 

In Caesar's time the population of Free Gaul was 
about seven millions. They were to a considerable 
degree a civilized people. They cultivated land, 
raised cattle and had some manufactures. They 
had villages and towns, roads and bridges, and in the 
north and north-west — the districts bordering the 
English Channel and the Atlantic ocean — they 
were skillful seamen. For sailing in the channel 



51 



they had leathern skiffs moved by oars, but on the 
west coast they had large vessels with sails and 
anchors. The sails were made of leather, or the skins 




Gallic Soldiers. 

of animals, and in these ships the Celts often made 
long voyages on the ocean. 

The Gauls fought with long iron swords or lances, 
spears, slings, and bows and arrows. They wore 



52 

helmets of metal, ornamented with horns of animals, 
and tufts of feathers. On their breasts they had 
plates of iron or bronze, called breastplates, and they 
carried large bucklers or shields. They were a fierce 
people, and much inclined to warfare. For a long 
time they had been a terror to the Romans. On one 
occasion they invaded Italy, marched to Rome, and 
burned the city to ashes. 

The Roman people, therefore, regarded these Gauls 
as very dangerous enemies, and in order to be always 
ready for defence against attack by them, they kept 
a special sum of money in their treasury, which it was 
forbidden to touch except for a war against the Gauls. 
We shall see that when Ci^sar returned to Rome 
after conquering Gaul, he seized this money to pay 
his soldiers, and when an official tried to prevent him 
from taking it, he said, " I have subdued the Gauls, 
therefore there is no longer any need of such pro- 
vision against them." 

Caesar's first struggle in Gaul was with the Hel- 
ve'ti-ans, a tribe that inhabited the district now called 
Switzerland. These people were not content in their 
own country. It was too small for them, they thought, 
and the land was not very good. They had heard 
of fertile regions in other parts of Gaul, where the 
population was not large, and they resolved to go 
and take possession of some of these. The place 



53 

they decided to emigrate to lay between the rivers 
Garonne and Loire, away towards the Atlantic, 
not far from the borders of the Roman Province. 
There they proposed to settle with their wives and 
children. So these ancient Swiss began to make 
preparations for their departure. There were about 
300,000 of them, and 92,000 of these were fighting 
men. 

When Caesar was told what the Helvetians were 
about to do, he resolved to prevent it. They had 
formerly been enemies of Rome, and he thought 
that if they were allowed to settle in a fertile coun- 
try so near the Roman Province, they might become 
very bad neighbors. Besides, if they left Helvetia 
(Switzerland), the Germans would probably come 
and take it for themselves. They too had been 
enemies of the Romans, and might prove trouble- 
some, even dangerous neighbors, for in Helvetia 
they would be within easy reach of Italy. 

Caesar, therefore, made up his mind not to permit 
this plan of emigration to be carried out. So, as 
soon as he heard that the Helvetians were about to 
move, he hurried over the Alps into Gaul and got 
his army in readiness. This was in the .early part 
of the year 58 B. C. Finding that the Helvetians 
had already set forth, he went in pursuit, and over- 
took them as they were marching through the country 



54 

of the y^d'u-ans. A battle was fought at Bi-brac'te 
(now Autun in France), in which the Helvetians 
were defeated with the loss of half their fiorht- 
ing men. The remainder, with the women and chil- 
dren, submitted to Caesar. He treated them very 
kindly. Some of them settled in Gaul, and the rest 
were sent back to Switzerland, lest the Germans 
should take possession of it. - * 

In their emigration the Helvetians had taken 
twenty days to cross the river Saone on boats and 
rafts. Caesar, pursuing them, built a bridge and 
crossed it with his army, all in a single day. It is 
not at all certain that any general or engineer of our 
own time could do quicker work. We have a great 
many machines and improved methods that were not 
known to the Romans, 1900 years ago, but we could 
hardly do much better than Caesar did ct this cross- 
ing of the Saone. 

Caesar's next conflict was with A-ri-o-vis'tus, a 
German king. Ariovistus had crossed the river 
Rhine with his forces, and had taken possession of 
portions of Celtic Gaul. He had compelled the 
^duans and other Gallic tribes to agree to pay him 
a large sum of money annually. He had made 
prisoners of a number of the chiefs of those tribes, 
and held them as security for the regular payment 
of the money. Such payments by a conquered 



55 

people to the conqeror were called Tribute, and the 
prisoners held as security were called Hostages. 

The /Edud.n King Div-i-ti'a-cus, begged Caesar's 
help against Ariovistus. Caesar readily complied 
with this request, for the y^duans were friends and 
allies of the Romans, and the Romans always stood 
by their friends. Moreover Caesar thought that if 
the Germans were allowed to become masters of 
any part of Gaul, they might next invade Italy and 
even attack Rome itself. 

Ariovistus, too, had at one time been friendly to the 
Romans. Caesar, therefore, thought that he would 
first have a talk with this king over the matter in 
dispute. So he invited Ariovistus to meet him, but 
the German warrior haughtily refused. Caesar then 
sent a message commanding him to give back the 
hostages to the ^duans; to cease injuring that 
people ; and to bring no more soldiers across the 
Rhine; and saying that, if these orders were not 
obeyed, he would protect the /Eduans. Ariovistus 
treated Caesar's demands with contempt. He re- 
fused to restore the hostages, and he sent word that 
if the Romans wanted to fight, they should soon be 
made to feel what the Germans could do in war. 

When Caesar heard this he at once set out with 
his army towards the Rhine. While on his way, 
he had some trouble with his own soldiers. Reports 



56 

had been spread amongst them that the Germans 
were men of gigantic size and strength, and of ter- 
rible appearance. These reports alarmed many of 
the Romans, whose fear was so great, that they 
"could not refrain even from tears," and some of 
them began to talk of refusing to follow their gen- 
eral. But Caesar soon encouraged his men by tell- 
ing them of their former victories, and he then 
continued his march until he came in sight of 
the army of Ariovistus, some miles from the 
Rhine, in the country now called Alsace. Here a 
battle was fought, in which the Romans gained a 
great victory. Ariovistus fled from the field, and in 
a small boat crossed the Rhine into his own country. 
At this battle Caesar himself led the attack. In his 
own account of the fight, as we find it in the Com- 
mentaries, he says : 

" When the signal was given, our men made a vig- 
orous dash upon the enemy, and the enemy rushed 
forward so rapidly that there was not time to hurl 
our javelins at them. The Romans, therefore, threw 
aside their javelins and fought with swords, hand to 
hand. The Germans, according to their custom, 
rapidly formed a phalanx [a mass of men standing 
close together in the form of a square], and resisted 
the attack of our swords. Many of our men leaped 
upon the phalanx, and with their hands tore away the 



57 

shields and wounded the enemy from above. All 
the enemy turned their backs, nor did they cease 
to flee until they arrived at the river Rhine, about 
fifty miles from that place." 

Thus Caesar finished his first campaign. There 
was no more fighting that year, but the Belgian tribes, 
having heard of the Roman general's exploits, and 
fearing that he would next lead his army into their 
country, formed a league to oppose him. Csesar was 
in Cisalpine Gaul when he heard of this. He im- 
mediately raised two more legions, crossed the Alps, 
and rapidly marched north. His sudden appearance 
astonished the Belgians. Several of the tribes 
submitted without a struggle, others he defeated in 
battle. His principal fight was with the NerVi-ans 
on the bank of the river Sambre. 

The Romans did not win so easily this time, and 
they would have been beaten had it not been for the 
heroic action of Caesar himself. The battle began 
sooner than the Romans had expected. Many of 
them were at work digging trenches to make a camp. 
Suddenly the Nervians, who had been concealed in 
a neighboring wood, rushed out in great numbers 
and furiously attacked them. Taken by surprise 
the Romans were easily thrown into confusion. 
More than once during the fight they were in danger 
of being utterly routed. The moment of greatest 



58 

peril was when one of the legions — the 12th — was 
near being overpowered. Most of the captains had 
been killed or wounded. Caesar snatched a shield 
from a soldier in the rear, rushed to the front, spoke 
a few words of encouragement to his men, and by his 
example inspired them with fresh courage. This 
incident is described by Longfellow in his Courtship 
of Miles Standish : 

*'Now do you know what he did on a certain occasion in 
Flanders, 

When the rear guard of his army retreated, the front giving 
way too, 

And the immortal Twelfth Legion was crowded so closely 
together 

There was no room for their swords ? Why, he seized a shield 
from a soldier. 

Put himself straight at the head of his troops, and com- 
manded the captains. 

Calling on each by his name, to order forward the ensigns; 

Then to widen the ranks, and give more room for their 
weapons; . 

So he won the day, the battle of — something or other. 

That's what I always say; if you wish a thing to be well done, 

You must do it yourself, you must not leave it to others." 

Only one Belgic tribe now remained in arms 
against the Romans. These were the Ad-u-af u-ci. 
Caesar pursued them to one of their towns, now called 
Namur, and he laid siege to the place. The town 



59 

was surrounded by high rocks, and precipices on all 
sides except one, and on this side there was a lofty 
double wall. At first the Aduatuci made frequent 
sallies out of the town and fought the enemy outside 
the walls, but they got frightened at the siege engines 
built by the Romans. One of these engines was a 
large high tower made of wood and moved upon 
wheels, from the top of which Caesar's soldiers could 
hurl stones and shoot arrows in upon the men in the 
town. 

While this tower was being constructed at a dis- 
tance, the Aduatuci from their walls mocked the 
Romans saying, of what use could it be to them. 
How could such small men hope to be able to place 
a tower of such weight against their walls ? For the 
Gauls were very tall and very strong men and they 
had a contempt for the comparatively short stature of 
the Romans. 

But when they saw the tower moving towards 
the walls of their town they began to think that 
the Romans were something more than human 
beings, and they sent ambassadors to Caesar offer- 
ing to give up to him both themselves and all 
their possessions. They begged, however, that he 
would let them keep their arms, for without them 
they could not defend themselves against the 
neighboring tribes, who were always making war 



6o 

upon them. Caesar replied that they must give up 
their arms, teUing them at the same time that he 
would take care they should receive no injury from 
their neighbors. 

The Aduatuci having now no choice but to sub- 
mit, agreed to Caesar s terms, and so they cast forth 
their arms from the walls until there was a heap of 
spears and arrows which reached nearly to the top. 
But they did not throw out all their weapons. They 
kept back enough to make another fight, and in the 
middle of the night they marched out of the gates 
with all their forces and rushed forward to Caesar's 
camp, thinking that the soldiers there, believing the 
war to be over, would be all asleep. 

But the Romans were not caught napping. The 
watches were at their posts and immediately the 
alarm was given. A fierce battle followed, in which 
the Aduatuci were defeated and 4000 of them slain.. 
Then Caesar, as he himself tells us, "sold the whole 
spoil of that town," the "spoil" being 53,000 pris- 
oners. This was a barbarous thing to do, but it 
was the custom of the time. In those days con- 
querors sold their prisoners of war as slaves to mer- 
chants or contractors who followed the armies for 
the purpose of buying the prisoners. 

We may think, then, that since there was so much 
war, there must have been a great many slaves. 



62 

And so there were. In some countries more than 
half the population were slaves. And they did all 
the hard work. They were the farm laborers and 
mechanics and house servants. The Roman citizen 
had a contempt for all such occupations. He 
thought them fit only for slaves. His business was 
fighting, and, as we have seen, he generally had 
plenty of it to do. 

The defeat of the Aduatuci ended the campaign 
in Belgium, and all that part of Gaul was now con- 
quered. Meanwhile Caesar had been giving atten- 
tion to other parts. While he was fighting the 
Nervians, he sent one of his lieutenants, Publius 
Crassus (son of the rich Crassus), with an army into 
the northwest — the province bordering the English 
Channel and the Atlantic ocean, now called Brit- 
tany. Crassus soon reported that he had brought 
the tribes in those districts under the dominion of 
Rome. 

Thus in less than two years^^ Caesar conquered 
nearly the whole of Gaul. His victories were cele- 
brated at Rome by public thanksgiving, and festivi- 
ties of various kinds, kept up for fifteen days, a 
longer term of rejoicing than had ever been known 
before for the victories of a Roman general. 

But very soon one of the northwestern tribes — 
called the VenVti — was again in arms. These 



63 

people dwelt on the Atlantic coast. They were 
bold and skillful seamen, and they thought that they 
were more than a match for Caesar, who had no 
fleet. The historian Froude thus describes their 
villages and ships : 

" Their homes were on the Bay of Qui'beron and 
on the creeks and estuaries between the mouth of 
the Loire and Brest. Their villages were built on 
promontories, cut off at high tide from the main- 
land, approachable only by water, and not by water 
except in shallow vessels which could be grounded 
safely on the mud. The population were sailors 
and fishermen. They were ingenious and indus- 
trious, and they carried on a considerable trade in 
the Bay of Biscay and in the English Channel. 
They had ships capable of facing the heavy seas 
which rolled in from the Atlantic, flat-bottomed, 
with high bow and stern, built solidly of oak, with 
timbers a foot thick, fastened with large iron nails. 
They, had iron chains for cables. Their sails were 
manufactured out of leather, because sailcloth was 
scarce, or because they thought canvas too weak for 
the strain of the winter storms. Such vessels were 
unwieldy, but had been found fit for voyages even 
to Britain. Their crews were accustomed to handle 
them, and knew all the rocks and shoals and har- 
bors. They looked on the Romans as mere lands- 




Roman Warship 



(64) 



:^ 



65 

men, and they supposed that they had as Httle to 
fear from an attack by water as on land." 

When Csesar heard of the revolt of the Veneti, he 
set to work without delay to get ships. He ordered 
a fleet to be built on the Loire, and, as soon as it 
was ready, he sent it down that river to the sea. He 
himself soon followed, and took his place at the head 
of his land army. 

But the great fight was between the two fleets. 
"The Veneti," says Froude, "had collected every 
ship that they or their allies possessed. They had 
220 sail in all. Their vessels were too strong to be 
run down. The galleys [Caesar's ships] carried 
turrets ; but the bows and sterns of the Veneti were 
still too lofty to be reached by the Roman javelins. 
The Romans had the advantage in speed ; but that 
was all. They too, however, had their plans. They 
had studied the construction of the Breton [Veneti] 
ships. They had provided sickles with long handles, 
with which they proposed to catch the halyards which 
held the weight of the heavy leather sails. Sweeping 
rapidly alongside they could easily cut them ; the sails 
would fall, and the vessels would be unmanageable. 

" A sea battle of this singular kind was thus fought 
off the eastern promontory of the Bay of Quiberon, 
Caesar and his army looking on from the shore. The 
sickles answered well; ship after ship was disabled; 

SVO. OF C^SAR — 5 



66 

the galleys closed with them, and they were taken 
by boarding. The Veneti then tried to retreat ; but 
a calm came on, and they could not move. The fight 
lasted from ten in the morning till sunset, when the 
entire Breton fleet was taken or sunk. " 

Meanwhile Crassus was in Aquitania — in the 
south-west. Ceesar had sent him there to prevent the 
tribes of that province from coming to the help of 
the Veneti. Crassus fought and won several battles, 
and in a short time subdued the whole of Aquitania. 

All Gaul north, south, east and west, was now 
under the power of Rome, with the exception of a 
few unimportant districts. The tribes that were not 
conquered by Caesar himself, or by his lieutenants, 
were so terrified by the reports of his victories that 
they submitted without a struggle. 

This, however, did not mean that Gaul was finally 
subdued and that Caesar was to have no more fighting 
in that country. The work of conquest had only 
been begun. The Celts, though beaten for the time, 
had not given up hope of being able some day to 
drive off the invaders. We shall see that they made 
brave attempts to do so. 



V. A FAMOUS BRIDGE — C^SAR IN BRITAIN. 

Julius Caesar whose remembrance yet 
Lives in men's eyes; and will to ears and tongues 
Be theme and hearing ever, was in this Britain, 
And conquered it. 

Shakespeare. 

Perhaps the most remarkable and interesting 
event of Caesar's next campaign — that of the year 
55 B. C. — was his invasion of Britain. But before 
undertaking this enterprise, he had serious work to 
do in Belgic Gaul. A vast horde of Germans — 
the U-sipVtes and Tenc-teVi tribes — had crossed 
the Rhine, with the object of finding lands to 
settle on. The chiefs of these people came to 
Caesar to ask him to let them make their home 
in Gaul. They said that if he consented, they 
would be friends of the Romans, but that if he 
refused, they would remain in spite of him and 
defend themselves. 

Caesar answered that there was no vacant land in 
Gaul for so many people, and that they must return 
at once to their own country. As the Germans did 
not seem willing to go, he marched against them and 

[67] 



68 

defeated them in a battle, in which great numbers of 
them were slain. 

After this battle Caesar resolved to cross the Rhine 
into Germany, not for the purpose of making con- 
quests, but to let the tribes there see that Roman 
power could reach them even in their own homes. 
And with the object of showing them also what 
Roman skill and energy could accomplish, he per- 
formed another wonderful feat in bridge-building, 
though he could have got boats enough to carry his 
army across the river. Caesar himself gives us a 
description of this bridge, and many authors have 
written of it in words of admiration. Mr. Froude 
in his account of it, says: 

" The river was broad, deep and rapid. The ma- 
terials were still standing in the forest; yet in ten 
days from the first stroke that was delivered by an 
ax, a bridge had been made, standing firmly on 
rows of piles with a road over it forty feet wide." 

And the English writer, Mr. Trollope, in his book 
on Caesar's Commentaries, remarks : 

" When the breadth of the river is considered, its 
rapidity, and the difficulty which there must have 
been in finding tools and materials for such a con- 
struction, in a country so wild and so remote from 
Roman civilization, the creation of this bridge fills 
us with admiration for Caesar's spirit and capacity. 



69 

He drove down piles into the bed of the river, two 
and two, prone against the stream. We could do 
that now, though hardly as quick as Csesar did it; 
but we should want coffer-dams and steam-pumps, 
patent rammers, and a clerk of the works. He 
explains to us that he so built the foundations that 
the very strength of the stream added to their 
strength and consistency. In ten days the whole 
thing was done, and the army carried over." 




Cesar's Bridge Across the Rhine. 

This famous bridge was built across the Rhine at 
a place between the present towns of Coblentz and 
Andernach, both situated on the banks of the river. 
Caesar spent eighteen days on the German side 
and then returned to Gaul, after which he cut down 
the bridge, in order that the German "barbarians" 



70 

might not have so easy a means of again crossing 
the river, should they think of doing so. 

Caesar now resolved to proceed into Britain. The 
Britons had always sent help to the Gauls against 
him, and this is the reason he gives for his expedi- 
tion to Bri-tan'ni-a, as the Romans called it. But 
we may be sure that Caesar also desired to add to 
his fame by conquering a country about which so 
little was then known. Plutarch writes of it as "an 
island whose very existence was doubted," and says 
that " some had represented it as so large that others 
considered both the name and the thing as a fiction." 

The earliest reliable account we have of Britain 
and its inhabitants is what Caesar gives us. He 
says that the people were very numerous, and that 
they had a great many buildings and cattle. They 
used copper coin and iron rings as money. Tin 
was found in the middle of the island, and iron 
about the coast. It was against the religion of the 
natives to eat hares, chickens or geese, but they kept 
those animals for amusement. They lived on milk 
and flesh, and their clothing was made of skins. They 
dyed their bodies with woad, which produced a blue 
color, and gave them a terrible appearance in battle. 

But the Britons were men of real courage, as well 
as "terrible appearance," and they made a brave 
fight against the Roman invaders. Charles Dick- 



71 

ens, the famous English novehst, has written this 
interesting account of it: 

" Fifty-five years before the birth of our Saviour 
the Romans, under their great general, Julius Caesar, 
were masters of all the rest of the known world. 
Julius Caesar had then just conquered Gaul ; and 
hearing, in Gaul, a good deal about the opposite 
island with the white cliffs, and about the bravery 
of the Britons who inhabited it — some of whom 
had been fetched over to help the Gauls in the war 
against him — he resolved, as he was so near, to 
come and conquer Britain next. 

"So Julius Caesar came sailing over to this island 
of ours, with eighty vessels and twelve thousand 
men. And he came from the French coast between 
Calais and Boulogne, 'because thence was the 
shortest passage into Britain,' just for the same 
reason that our own steamboats now take the same 
track every day. He expected to conquer Britain 
easily, but it was not such easy work as he sup- 
posed — for the bold Britons fought most bravely ; 
and, what with not having his horse-soldiers with 
him (for they had been driven back by a storm), and 
what with having some of his vessels dashed to 
pieces by a high tide after they were drawn ashore, 
he ran great risk of being totally defeated. How- 
ever, for once that the bold Britons beat him, he 



^2 

beat them twice, though not so soundly but that he 
was very glad to accept their proposals of peace and 
go away. 

" But in the spring of the next year, he came back, 
this time, with eight hundred vessels and thirty 
thousand men. The British tribes chose as their 
general-in-chief a Briton, whom the Romans in their 
language called Cas-si-vel-lau'nus, but whose British 
name is supposed to have been Caswallon. A brave 
general he was, and well he and his soldiers fought 
the Roman army! So well, that whenever in that 
war the Roman soldiers saw a great cloud of dust, 
and heard the rattle of the rapid British chariots, 
they trembled in their hearts. Besides a number of 
smaller battles, there was a battle fought near Can- 
terbury in Kent; there was a battle fought near 
Chertsey, in Surrey; there was a battle fought near 
a marshy little town in a wood, the capital of that 
part of Britain which belonged to Cassivellaunus, 
and which was probably near what is now St. 
Albans, in Hertfordshire. 

" However, brave Cassivellaunus had the worst of 
it, on the whole; though he and his men always 
fought like lions. As the other British chiefs were 
jealous of him, and were always quarrelling with 
him and with one another, he gave up and proposed 
peace. Julius Caesar was very glad to grant peace 



73 

easily, and to go away again with all his remaining 
ships and men. He had expected to find pearls in 
Britain, and he may have found a few for anything 
I know; but at all events, he found delicious oysters, 
and I am sure he found tough Britons." 

Tough as the Britons were, however, their coun- 
try became a Roman province, and remained under 
the dominion of Rome for over four centuries. 
Other Roman generals made expeditions to the 
island after Caesar's death, and completed the con- 
quest which he had begun. 

Soon after his return from Britain (about the end 
of the summer, b. c. 54), Caesar found that the Bel- 
gian tribes were not yet quite subdued. Owing to 
a very dry season that year in Gaul, the harvest had 
not been good, and there was a great scarcity of 
provisions. Instead, therefore, of keeping his army 
together during the winter, as he had hitherto done, 
Caesar was obliged to distribute his legions among 
several districts, sending one to one district and 
another to another. The Belgians considered that 
this gave them a good opportunity of freeing them- 
selves from the power of Rome. It would be an 
easy matter, they thought, to destroy the legions one 
by one, much easier, at least, than to fight them 
all together with Caesar at their head. 

So the Belgians resolved to strike another blow 



74 

for freedom. One of the leaders of the revolt was 
Am-bi'o-rix, king or chief of the Eb-u-ro'nes, a tribe 
inhabiting the country near the Aduatuci. In this 
district a division of the Roman army, consisting of 
a legion and a half, was stationed in a fortified camp 
under the command of Ti-tu'ri-us Sa-bi'nus, a lieu- 
tenant of Caesar. About 50 miles distant, but in 
different directions, there were two legions, one 
commanded by Titus La-bi-e'nus, the other by 
Quintus Cicero, brother of the great Roman 
orator. 

Ambiorix decided to attack Sabinus first. Seeing 
that it would be difficult to take the camp by force, 
he tried an artifice which proved entirely successful. 
He sent a message to Sabinus telling him that the 
Gauls and Germans had got together a great army 
to destroy the Romans, and that all the legions were 
to be attacked on the same day, so that they should 
not be able to help one another. He pretended 
that he himself was friendly to Caesar, and that he 
had tried to prevent his people from going against 
the Romans, but they were so determined upon it 
that he could not keep them back. He therefore 
advised Sabinus to depart immediately with his 
division and join Cicero or Labienus, and he prom- 
ised that he would see to it that they should not be 
injured or molested on their march. 



75 

Sabinus fell into the snare thus laid for him. He 
believed the story of Ambiorix, and, against the 
advice and warning of his brother officers, he set 
out the following morning with his legion and a 
half. On the way and not far from the camp, they 
were met and surrounded by a large army with the 
treacherous Ambiorix at its head. The Romans, 
not expecting to meet an enemy, were unprepared 
for a battle. Nevertheless they fought bravely, but 
they were all killed, with the exception of a few 
who escaped through the neighboring woods. The 
imprudent Sabinus himself was amongst the slain. 

Cicero was the next to be attacked, and the Gauls 
tried their artifice upon him too. But, though he 
had not yet heard of what had befallen Sabinus, 
he refused to move from his station. It was not 
the custom of the Roman people, he said, to accept 
any condition from an armed enemy. The Gauls 
then resolved to destroy him in his camp, or starve 
him into surrender, and they would probably have 
succeeded if he had not got help. They had 60,000 
men, and a single legion could not hold out long 
against such- numbers. 

But Cicero contrived to send word to Csesar, who 
was then at Amiens, 100 miles off, and knew noth- 
ing of the revolt of the tribes. Caesar started off 
instantly to the rescue of his lieutenant. Before he 



76 

left he sent orders to some of his legions to meet 
him on the way, and he wrote to Cicero telling him 
that help was coming. The letter was written in 
Greek, so that the enemy could. not read it, should 
it fall into their hands, and was carried by a friendly 
Gaul, who fastened it to his spear, which he threw 
over the fortifications into Cicero's camp. 

The Gauls outside soon heard that Caesar was 
coming, and immediately marched to meet him, 
thinking to overwhelm him by their superior num- 
bers. They had 60,000 men while he had only 
7,000. But the unconquerable Caesar was a host 
in himself. His presence in an army was worth 
many legions. In the battle which took place, the 
Gauls were utterly defeated. Great numbers of 
them were slain, and all were deprived of their arms. 

There w^as a good deal more fighting during the 
winter and spring (B. C. 54 and 53). Through 
the whole of it the Romans were everywhere victo- 
rious. The Belgic revolt was crushed, though 
Ambiorix escaped and was never taken. 

The Gauls were now " a little quieter," as Caesar 
tells us, but the next year (52 B. C.) they made 
another fight. It was the greatest of all their strug- 
gles against the power of Rome. The leader of it 
was Ver-cin-get'o-rix, a young chief of extraordinary 
ability and courage. 



This revolt was well planned. The leading men 
of the tribes held secret meetings, at which it was 
resolved that there should be a general rising at the 
same time over the whole country. On the day 
appointed the war began by a massacre of Roman 
citizens in Cen'a-bum (now Orleans). The news 
that the first blow had thus been struck was sent 
from tribe to tribe by men posted on hills, who con- 
veyed the intelligence from one to another by shouts 
or signals. 

" The report," says Caesar, " was quickly spread 
among all the states of Gaul ; for whenever a very 
important event occurs, they give information of it 
in their lands and districts by a shout, others take 
it up in succession, and pass it to their neighbors, 
as then happened." 

Caesar was now in a situation of great difficulty 
and danger. Nearly all Gaul was up in arms against 
him. Most of his legions were stationed in the 
north. He was in the midst of a hostile race eaeer 
to avenge the defeats of six years, while Vercingeto- 
rix was among his own people, who were devoted to 
him as their national leader and champion. 

There were many battles and sieges during the 
campaign. One of the plans of Vercingetorix was 
to burn the farmsteads, towns and villages over 
whole tracts of country, so that Caesar might have 



78 

no source from which to get provisions for his 
legions. This was done in Auvergne, the district 
of which Vercingetorix himself was chief. But the 
town of A-va-ri'cum (now Bourges) was spared at 
the earnest request of its inhabitants. Caesar laid 
siege to it, and captured it, though not until his 
soldiers had suffered severely from want of food. 

The siege of Ger-go'vi-a (near the present Cler- 
mont) was the next event of importance. Here 
Caesar met with his first and only failure during all 
his campaigns in Gaul. In an attempt to break into 
the town, 700 of his men were killed. After this 
he thought it prudent to raise the siege. 

The Gauls now began to think that they were in 
a fair way to beat the Romans. But Caesar was not 
to have a second failure. The siege of A-le'si-a 
(now St. Reine d'Alise) was the last great struggle 
of the campaign, and it was the end of the military 
career of Vercingetorix. Trollope thus describes 
this famous siege: 

" Vercingetorix with his whole army is forced into 
the town, and Caesar surrounds it with ditches, 
works, lines, and ramparts, so that no one shall be 
able to escape from it. Before this is completed, 
and while there is yet a way open of leaving the 
town, the Gaulish chief sends out horsemen, who 
are to go to the tribes of Gaul, and convene the 



79 

fighting men to that place, so that by their numbers 
they may raise the siege and expel the Romans. 

"We find that these horsemen do as they are 
bidden, and that a great Gaulish conference is held, 
at which it is decided how many men shall be sent 
by each tribe. Vercingetorix has been very touch- 
ing in his demand that all this shall be done quickly. 
He has food for the town for thirty days. Probably 
it may be stretched to last a little longer. Then, if 
the tribes are not true to him, he and the eighty 
thousand souls he has with him must perish. 

" The horsemen make good their escape from the 
town, and Vercingetorix, with his eighty thousand 
hungry souls around him, prepares to wait. It seems 
to us when we think of what must have been the 
Gallia of those days, and when we remember how far 
thirty days would now be from sufficing for such a 
purpose, that the difficulties to be overcome were 
insuperable. But Caesar says that the tribes did send 
their men. 

" Eight thousand horsemen and two hundred and 
forty thousand footmen assembled themselves in the 
territories of the ^duans. Alesia was north of the 
y^duans, amidst the Lin'go-nes. This enormous 
army chose its generals, and marched off to Alesia 
to relieve Vercingetorix. But the thirty days were 
past, and more than past, and the men and women 



So 

in Alesia were starving. No tidings ever had 
reached Alesia of the progress which was being 
made in the gathering of their friends. It had come 
to be very bad with them there. Some were talking 
of unconditional surrender. But the collected forces 
of Gaul do at last come up to attempt the rescue of 
Vercingetorix, — and indeed they come in time ; were 
they able by coming to do anything. They attack 
Caesar in his camp, and a great battle is fought 
beneath the eyes of the men in Alesia. But Caesar 
is very careful that those who are now hemmed up 
in the town shall not join themselves to the Gauls 
who have spread all over the country around him. 
We hear how during the battle Caesar comes up 
himself, and is known by the color of his cloak. We 
again feel, as we read his account of the fighting, 
that the Gauls nearly win, and that they ought to 
win. But at last they are driven headlong in flight 
— all the levies of all the tribes. The Romans kill 
very many; were not the labor of 'killing too much 
for them, they might kill all. A huge crowd, how- 
ever, escapes, and the men scatter themselves back 
into their tribes." 

" On the next day Vercingetorix yields himself 
and the city to Csesar. During the late battle he 
and his men shut up within the walls have been 
simply spectators of the fighting. Ccesar is sitting 



8i 

in his lines before his camp; and there the chief- 
tains, with Vercingetorix at their head, are brought 
up to him." 

Thus at last conquered, the brave Vercingetorix 
was carried away a prisoner. A few years later he 
was led through the streets of Rome in one of the 
triumphal processions in honor of Caesar's victories. 

Though there was more fighting with several of 
the tribes, after the taking of Alesia, Caesar had no 
serious difficulty in completing the conquest of Gaul. 
The Gallic chiefs now saw that further resistance 
was useless, and so they gave up the struggle. All 
Gaul was then made a Roman province, and Caesar 
treated the people so justly that they became not 
only devoted to him, but content with their condi- 
tion, and they resolved to maintain the peace which 
was now established. 




Catapult. 



VI. C^SAR CROSSES THE RUBICON — ''THE 

DIE IS CAST." 

The Caesar passed the Rubicon 

With helm, and shield, and breastplate on, 

Dashing his war-horse through the waters. 

Halleck, 

His wonderful exploits in Gaul and Britain made 
Caesar the greatest and most popular man of Rome. 
But the patrician class were still his enemies, and 
they now tried to take from him his authority as 
proconsul. We have seen that at first (58 B. C.) he 
was appointed for five years. His term was extended 
to ten years by a law passed 55 B. C. 

This was part of an arrangement made by the 
triumvirate at a conference in the year 56 B. C. at 
Lucca, a town of Cisalpine Gaul. At that confer- 
ence it was agreed that Pompey and Crassus should 
be consuls for the next year, 55 B. C. ; that at the end 
of their term, Pompey should be made governor of 
Spain for five years, and Crassus governor of Syriarj 
(Asia Minor); and that Caesar should have ten 
years in Gaul and be consul for the year 48 B. C. 

But Crassus was killed in Asia in a war against 

[82] 



83 

the Parthians, and Pompey's wife, the daughter of 
Caesar, died in 54 B. C. Soon after this event these 
two" great men became less friendly to each other. 
Pompey had grown jealous of Caesar's success 
and popularity, and at last he went over to the 
Senate party. 

This party then tried to prevent Caesar from being 
made consul. There was a law that no person could 
be a candidate for the office while in command of 
an army, or without being present in Rome. But 
Caesar's friends thought that on account of his great 
services to his country an exception ought to be 
made in his favor. They proposed, therefore, that 
he should be allowed to stand for the consulship 
without coming to the city. 

The Senate refused to permit this, and moreover 
passed an order that Caesar should give up his pro- 
consulship and disband his army. C^sar replied 
offering to disband if Pompey would do the same, 
that is, resign the military command he then held 
as proconsul of Spain. The Senate refused to accept 
Caesar's offer, and it passed a decree that if he did 
not disband his army on a certain day, he would be 
declared an enemy of the Republic. It is said that 
the object of this decree was to get Caesar to come 
to Rome, and that if he had come at that time, he 
would have been put to death after a mock trial. 



84 

But Caesar was not to be caught so easily. He 
was then in Cisalpine Gaul with one legion of his 
army. When he heard of the decree of the Senate 
he talked to his soldiers, telling them of the wrong 
that had been done him, and appealing to them to 
defend their general from the malice of his enemies 
— " that general under whose command they had for 
nine years fought so many battles for their country." 
The soldiers replied that they were ready to defend 
their general from all injuries. 

The next event in the great contest was the famous 
crossing of the Ru'bi-con. This was a small river in 
the north of Italy, flowing into the Adriatic Sea near 
Ra-ven'na. It divided Cisalpine Gaul from the 
portion of the peninsula then under the direct 
government of the Roman Senate and people. 
Strangely enough, it is not now known which of the 
two or three little streams in that district was the 
celebrated Rubicon of Roman history. 

But in Caesar's time it was a very important bound- 
ary. Roman law strictly forbade any Roman general 
to lead an army across the Rubicon into Italy. To 
do so was to declare war against the Republic. 
Hence the phrase, " to cross the Rubicon," means to 
take a decisive step in a difficult or dangerous enter- 
prise, or to adopt a measure from which one can- 
not recede. 



85 

The crossing of the Rubicon (49 B. C.) was, 

therefore, the beginning of the Civil War between 

fc Caesar and Pompey. It is said that when Caesar was 

about to cross the river, he spent some time thinking 

seriously over the great conflict which he knew was 

certain to follow. Plutarch thus tells the story: 
* 

" When he came to the river Rubicon which 

divides Cisalpine Gaul from the rest of Italy, his 
thoughts began to work. He was just entering upon 
the danger, and he wavered much in his mind when 
he considered the greatness of the enterprise into 
which he was throwing himself. He checked his 
* course, and ordered a halt, while weighing within 
his own breast the arguments on both sides, and 
often changed his opinion one way and the other, 
without speaking a word. He then discussed the 
matter with his friends who were about him, calcu- 
lating how many evils his crossing that river might 
bring upon the world, and what posterity might say 
of it. At last, like one who plunges down from the 
top of a precipice into a gulf of immense depth, he 
bade adieu to his reasonings, shut his eyes against 
the danger, and crying out, in the Greek language, 
' The die is cast,' he immediately crossed the river." 
In sixty days after crossing the Rubicon Caesar 
was master of all Italy, without fighting a battle. 
On his march through the country the people every- 



86 

where received him with shouts of welcome. They 
looked upon him as their friend and champion, and 
they were proud of him for his great victories. 
Thousands joined his army, so that very soon he 
had a force of nearly 30,000 men. 

Meanwhile the Senate and its supporters were 
filled with terror. On the first report of Caesar's 
coming nearly all of them fled in alarm from the 
city. Pompey had declared that by the "stamping 
of his foot" he could raise an army to defeat Caesar, 
but he now found he could get no army in Italy to 
fight against the popular hero. There was nothing 
for him, therefore, to do but seek for help in some 
of the provinces, and so, embarking at Brun-di'si-um 
(now Brindisi) on the southeast Italian coast, he 
sailed across the Adriatic to Il-lyr'i-a, and at once set 
about collecting an army from various parts of 
Greece and Asia Minor. He also got together a 
o:reat fleet with the intention of soon returninor to 
Italy, to destroy Gaesar, and recover possession of 
Rome. This plan, as we shall see, was not. carried 
out. Pompey never again set foot in his native 
land. 

Caesar meantime marched to Rome and entered 
the city. Here he remained only a few days. His 
enemies were active in several of the provinces, and 
he did not mean to give them time to bring their 



87 

forces into Italy. He resolved to go first to Spain, 
where there was a large army under the command 
of Pompey's lieutenants, A-fra'ni-us, Pe-tre'i-us and 
Varro. But before he left Rome, he issued an 
order, restoring their rights as citizens, and their 
property, to the children of those who had been 
proscribed by Sulla. 

It was at this time that Caesar took the money 
out of the Roman treasury, as has been mentioned 
in a previous chapter. The money was voted to 
him by the assembly of the people, but the Tribune 
Me-teHus, a friend of Pompey, attempted to prevent 
the doors of the treasury from being opened. 
Caesar threatened to put him to death, if he gave 
further trouble. "And young man," said he, "you 
know that this is harder for me to say than to do." 
He then took the money and spent it in paying and 
rewarding his soldiers. 

On his way to Spain, Caesar went to Mas-siFi-a 
(modern Marseilles, south France), which was even 
then, as it is in our own time, the principal commer- 
cial port of the Mediterranean. As this important 
place would be a danger to him, if in possession of 
his enernies, he determined to take it. The inhabit- 
ants shut their gates against him, and they soon 
afterwards admitted one of Pompey's lieutenants 
and made him governor. Csaear then laid siege to 



88 

the town, and leaving his lieutenants, Decimus 
Brutus and Caius Tre-bo'ni-us, to carry it on, he him- 
self proceeded to Spain. He had sent his legions 
on before him, together with a number of horse and 
foot soldiers raised in Gaul. 

The Spanish campaign occupied but a few weeks. 
It was chiefly in the neighborhood of I-ler'da (now 
Lerida), on the river Segre, near the foot of the 
Pyrenees mountains. There was not much fight- 
ing, but Afranius and Petreius were nearly success- 
ful in an attempt to prevent a supply of provi- 
sions from reaching Caesar's army. Froude thus 
describes the campaign : 

" In forty days from the time at which the armies 
came in sight of each other, Afranius and Petreius, 
with all their legions, were prisoners. Varro, in the 
south, was begging for peace, and all Spain lay at 
Caesar's feet. At one moment he was almost lost. 
The meltino- of the snows in the mountains brouo^ht 
a flood down the Segre. The bridges were carried 
away, the fords were impassable, and the convoys 
[wagons of provisions accompanied by soldiers to 
guard them] were at the mercy of the enemy. News 
flew to Rome that all was over, that Caesar's army 
was starving, that he. was cut off between the rivers 
and in a few days must surrender. 

" The situation was indeed most critical. Even 



89 

Caesar's own soldiers became unsteady. But re- 
source in difficulties is the distinction of great gen- 
erals. He had observed in Britain that the coast 
fishermen used boats made out of frames of wicker 
covered with skins. The river banks [in Spain] 
were fringed with willows. There were hides in 
abundance on the carcasses of the animals in the 
camp. Swiftly in these vessels the swollen waters 
of the Segre were crossed; the convoys were 
rescued." 

Caesar treated the prisoners very leniently. He 
let them all go free, only requiring them to promise 
that they would not again fight against him. Not- 
withstanding this promise, some of the officers joined 
Pompey's army, but on the other hand, a number 
of the soldiers enlisted for service in Caesar's 
legions. 

Returning from Spain by way of Marseilles, 
Caesar found the people of that city ready to sur- 
render, after suffering terribly from hunger and dis- 
ease. The keys of the gates were given up to him, 
and he "spared the town, more," he tells us, "on 
account of its fame and antiquity [it was founded 
by the Greeks B. C. 600] than because the inhabi- 
tants deserved his good will. He left two legions 
as a guard there, sent the rest of his army to Italy, 
and set out himself for Rome." 



90 

On arriving in the city he was made dictator, 
and soon afterwards was elected consul for the fol- 
lowing year (48 B. C). He remained in Rome only 
eleven days, and before he left, he resigned the oflfice 
of dictator. " Eleven days," says Froude, " were all 
he could afford to Rome. So swift was Caesar that 
his greatest exploits were measured by days. He 
had to settle accounts with Pompey while it was 
still winter, and while Pompey's preparations for the 
invasion of Italy were still incomplete; and he and 
his veterans, scarcely allowing themselves a breath- 
ing time, went down to Brindisi." 







Battering ram. 



VII. POMPEY DEFEATED. 

Now to Pharsalia where the smarting strokes 
Of our resolved contention must resound. — 

Chapman. 

The final struggle between the two greatest men 
of Rome was now approaching. Caesar with his 
army of about 30,000 men was at Brundisium. 
Pompey had more than twice the number on the. 
opposite coast at Dy-ra'chi-um (now Durazzo) in 
Macedonia. 

Having resolved to prevent his enemy from coming 
to attack him in Italy, Caesar had to take his legions 
across the strait. This was not an easy thing to do, 
as he had but twelve warships, and transport vessels 
enough to carry only half his army, while Pompey's 
fleet was on the watch at several points along the 
Macedonian shore. 

But the great Caesar was not to be stopped in his 
career of conquest. " He liked well," says Froude, 
"to descend like a bolt out of the blue sky; and 
for the very reason that no ordinary person would, 
under such circumstances, have thought of attempt- 
ing the passage, he determined to try it." And he 

[91] 



92 

succeeded. He set sail with 15,000 men and 500 
horse, and reached the other side without encoun- 
tering an enemy at sea. He landed near Ap-ol- 
lo'ni-a, a town some distance south of Dyrrachium. 

The first thing he did on his arrival was to send 
a message to Pompey proposing that both should 
disband their armies, and leave their differences to 
be settled by the Roman Senate and people. Pom- 
pey did not return an answer to this message. He 
perhaps did not wish for a peaceful settlement, and 
some of his officers would be satisfied with nothing 
less than " Caesar's head," as we learn from Caesar's 
own account. 

Between Pompey's and Caesar's camp there was 
only the river Apsus, a narrow stream flowing into 
the sea between Dyrrachium and Apollonia, and the 
soldiers of the opposing armies frequently conversed 
with each other. By a private agreement among 
themselves no weapons were used during their meet- 
ings. Caesar sent Va-tin'i-us, one of his lieutenants, 
to make proposals of peace. He received an answer 
that next day there would be a conference, at which 
delegates from both sides might be present, and 
explain their wishes. When the delegates met, their 
minds seemed to be eagerly intent on peace, but 
their conversation was suddenly interrupted by darts 
thrown from all sides. Vatinius escaped death only 



93 

by the protection of his soldiers. As the meeting 
was breaking up, Labienus, who had fought under 
Caesar in Gaul, but was now a lieutenant of Pompey, 
cried out, " Talk to us no more about an agreement; 
there can be no peace until you bring us Caesar's 
head." 

All hope of friendly settlement was, therefore, at 
an end, but before Caesar could attempt any fighting 
he had to get the remainder of his army over from 
Brundisium. They were there in charge of his 
faithful friend and lieutenant, Mark An'to-ny, whose 
famous oration at Caesar's funeral, as rendered by 
the poet Shakespeare, is quoted in many of our 
books of poetry. 

For several months Antony could not put to sea 
with his legions, for the harbor of Brundisium was 
blocked up by Pompey's war vessels. Tired of 
waiting, Caesar resolved upon an enterprise, the story 
of which Plutarch thus relates : 

" Caesar, not having a sufficient force at Apollonia 
to make head against the enemy, and seeing that the 
troops at Brundisium delayed to join him, undertook 
a most astonishing enterprise. He embarked with- 
out anyone's knowledge, in a boat of twelve oars to 
cross over to Brundisium, though the sea was at 
that time covered with a vast fleet of the enemy's. 
He got on board in the night time, in the dress of a 



94 

slave, and throwing himself down like a person of 
no consequence, lay along at the bottom of the vessel. 

" The river A'ni-us was to carry them down to the 
sea, and there used to blow a gentle gale every 
morning from the land, which by driving the waves 
forward, made it calm at the mouth of the river. 
But this nisfht there had blown a strons^ wind from 
the sea, and it overpowered the gale from the land, 
so that the river was extremely rough where it met 
the influx of sea-water and the opposition of the 
waves. The master of the boat thinking, therefore, 
that he could not make the passage, ordered his 
sailors to tack about and return. Caesar then rose 
up and showing himself to the pilot, who was sur- 
prised to see him there, said, ' Go on, my friend, 
and fear nothing ; you carry Caesar.' 

" When the sailors heard this, they forgot the 
storm, and laying all their strength to their oars, they 
did what they could to force their way down the 
river. But it was to no purpose, for the vessel now 
began to take water, and so Caesar, finding himself 
in such danger in the very mouth of the river, per- 
mitted the master to turn back." 

But soon afterward, Antony succeeded in making 
the passage, and Caesar, having thus got all his 
legions together, prepared to move against the 
enemy. In the first important conflict, however, 



95 

which was at the siege of Pe'tra, near Dyrrachium, 
he met with a serious defeat. Trollope thus describes 
the situation of both armies : 

" There was a steep rocky promontory called 
Petra, or the rock, some few miles north of Dyrra- 
chium, from whence there was easy access to the 
sea. At this point Pompey could touch the sea, but 
between Petra and Dyrrachium Caesar held the 
country. Here, on this rock, taking in for the use of 
his army a certain somewhat wide amount of pas- 
turage at the foot of the rock, Pompey placed his 
army, and made intrenchments all round from sea to 
sea, fortifying himself, as all Roman generals knew 
how to do, with a bank and ditch and twenty-four 
turrets and earth-works. So placed, he had all the 
world at his back to feed him. Not only could he 
get at that wealth of stores which he had amassed 
at Dyrrachium, and which were safe from Caesar, but 
the coasts of Greece and Asia and Egypt were open 
to his ships. Two things only were wanting to 
him — sufficient grass for his horses, and a supply of 
water. The country at his back was one so unpro- 
ductive, being rough and mountainous, that the 
inhabitants themselves were in ordinary times fed 
upon imported corn. 

" Nevertheless, Csesar, having got the body of his 
enemy, as it were, imprisoned at Petra, was determ- 



96 

ined to keep his prisoner fast. So round and in 
front of Pompey's lines he also made other lines, 
from sea to sea. He began by erecting turrets and 
placing small detachments on the little hills outside 
Pompey's lines, so as to prevent his enemy from 
getting to the grass. Then he joined these towers 
by lines, and in this way surrounded the other lines, 
■^ — thinking that so Pompey would not be able to 
send out his horsemen for forage ; and again that the 
horses inside at Petra might gradually be starved." 

And Caesar would, perhaps, have been able to 
prevent Pompey for a long time from sending out 
his horsemen, had it not been for the treachery of 
two Gauls whom he had in his camp. Caesar had 
been very kind to these men, but he had been obliged 
to check them for some misconduct. Taking offense 
at this, they went over to Pompey and told him of 
all Caesar's plans, and of the ditches and forts and 
mounds that he had not yet finished. Pompey then 
knew what to do. With his boats he sent a large 
body of men ashore at night between Caesar's 
lines at their weakest point. So in the battle, or 
rather battles — for there were two of them — that 
took place the next day, Caesar's men were badly 
beaten. Nearly a thousand of them were slain. 

Great was the joy of the senators and patricians 
at this victory. For a number of them had left Italy 



97 

and joined Pompey, and now they thought that their 
terrible enemy was at last conquered, and that the 
war was as good as over. They reported to Rome 
that Ccesar had fled and that his army was nearly 
destroyed. 

But soon there was another story to tell. Three 
months after the battles at Petra, Caesar and Pompey 
met again. Caesar had moved into the country, 
taking possession of important towns on the way, and 
getting provisions for his troops. In a little while 
Pompey followed him. For several days the two 
armies marched along in sight of each other. At 
last they came to a stand on the plain of Phar-sali-a, 
in Thes'sa-ly, a country of north Greece. Here on 
the 9th of August, 48 B. C. was fought the famous 
battle which ended the contest between those two 
great rivals. 

In this, as in most of his other battles, Caesar 
fought against superior numbers. Pompey had 
45,000 foot soldiers, and 7,000 horsemen. Caesar 
had not half so many, but his soldiers were hardy 
veterans, who had served in numerous campaigns. 
Pompey, too, had veterans in his ranks, but his cav- 
alry, on which he chiefly relied, was made up of 
young men of patrician families, who had little ex- 
perience of the hardships of war. They felt so sure, 
however, of victory that for many days, we are told, 

STO. OF C.-ESAR — 7 



98 

they had been disputing and contending among 
themselves about the high offices and places of profit 
and power at Rome, which they were to have after 
the defeat of Caesar. 

Before the battle, Caesar, according to his custom, 
made a speech to his soldiers. He reminded them 
of "the earnestness with which he had sought 
peace," and he said that it was not his wish "that 
the Republic should be deprived of one or other of 
her armies." The trumpets were then sounded for 
the charge, and the great fight began. Caesar him- 
self thus tells about it: 

"Our men, when the signal was given, rushed 
forward with their javelins ready, but seeing that 
Pompey's men did not run to meet their charge, and 
being practised in former battles, they slackened 
their speed, and halted almost midway, that they 
might not come up with the enemy when their own 
strength was exhausted. After a short pause they 
renewed their course, threw their javelins, and in- 
stantly drew their swords. Pompey's men did not 
fail in this crisis. They received our javelins, with- 
stood our charge, and kept their ranks. Then hav- 
ing cast their javelins, they drew their swords. At 
the same time Pompey's cavalry rushed out from his 
left wing, and his whole host of archers poured after 
them. Our cavalry gave ground a little, upon which 



99 

Pompey's horse pressed them more vigorously, and 
began to file off in troops, and flank our army [at- 
tack them on the side]. When Ccesar saw this, he 
gave the signal to his fourth line, which he had 
formed of six cohorts [about 500 men each]. They 
instantly rushed forward and charged Pompey's 
horse with such fury, that not a man of them stood ; 
but all wheeling about, not only quitted their post, 
but galloped off to seek a refuge in the highest 
mountains, The archers and slingers, being thus 
left defenceless, were all killed." 

There was little more fighting. " Pompey's men 
were not able to hold their ground, but all fled," and 
Pompey's last battle was over. We are told that 
Caesar, noticing many dead bodies of patricians scat- 
tered about on the plain, said in a mournful voice, 
" They would have it so. I, Caius Caesar, notwith- 
standing all I have done for my country, should 
have been condemned by them as a criminal, if I 
had disbanded my army." 

When Pompey saw that all was lost, he fled from 
the field to the seashore accompanied by a few 
friends. After many adventures he succeeded in 
reaching Lesbos, an island in the Mediterranean, 
where he had sent his wife for safety during the war. 
From Lesbos he sailed for Egypt. The king 
of that country at this time was named Ptol'e-my. 



100 

Some years before, Pompey had rendered great ser- 
vice to this king's father, and he now expected the 
gratitude of at least a friendly reception. But 
Ptolemy's counsellors advised that Pompey should 
be put to death, saying that the king might thus 
gain the good will and friendship of Caesar. This 
shameful proposal was approved and carried out. 
As he was about to land on the coast of Egypt, Pom- 
pey was murdered by A-chirias, one of the king's 
officers. Such was the end of Pompey the Great. 
The Roman poet Lucan describes the tragedy of 
his death in lines which have been thus translated 
from the Latin: 

Now in the boat defenceless Pompey sate. 

Surrounded and abandon'd to his fate. 

Nor long they hold him in their power aboard, 

Ere every villain drew his ruthless sword. 

The chief perceiv'd their purpose soon, and spread 

His Roman gown with patience o'er his head: 

And when the curs'd Achillas pierc'd his breast, 

His rising indignation close repress'd. 

No sighs, no groans, his dignity profan'd, 

Nor tears his still unsullied glory stained: 

Unmov'd and firm he fix'd him on his seat, 

And died, as when he liv'd and conquer'd, great. 



¥ 



> 



VIII. VICTORIES IN AFRICA AND ASIA- 
REJOICINGS IN ROME. 

We make holiday to see Caesar, and 
to rejoice in his triumph, 

Shakespeare. 

When Caesar heard that Pompey had sailed for 
Egypt, he set out in pursuit, with two legions of his 
army, and a dozen warships. He did not reach 
that country, however, until after Pompey's death. 
It is said that he wept when he was told of the fate 
of his great rival, and afterwards, when any of those 
who had been the companions of Pompey were 
taken by the Egyptians, and brought to him, he 
treated them with much kindness, and received them 
into his own service. In writing to friends in Rome 
at this time he said that the chief enjoyment he had 
of victory was in saving every day one or other of 
his fellow-citizens who had borne arms against him. 

But C^sar soon found himself in a dangerous 
situation in Egypt. He had given offense to the 
people of Al-ex-an'dri-a, the Egyptian capital, by 
marching into the city attended by his lictors carry- 
ing the consular fasces — the emblems of Roman 

[lOl] 



I02 



power. The Egyptians regarded this as an insult 
to their king, for it seemed to them to mean that 
Caesar wished to exercise supreme authority in their 
country. 

Another cause of offense to the Egyptians was 
that Caesar claimed the right to act as judge in a 
quarrel then going on between the young king 
Ptolemy and his sister Cle-o-pa'tra. These were 
the children of a former Ptolemy, who had left the 
kingdom to them to rule over jointly as king and 
queen ; and made the Roman people their guardians 
and the executors of his will. But the Egyptians 
did not want Cleopatra to have any share in the 
government, and so they banished her from the 
country and made her brother sole sovereign. 

Caesar, as representative of the Roman people, 
undertook to settle the matter, and he decided in 
favor of Cleopatra, ordering that she should be per- 
mitted to reign jointly with her brother, in accord- 
ance with their father's will. Ptolemy and his 
friends refused to submit to the decision, and they 
declared Caesar an enemy of Egypt, and sent an 
army against him into Alexandria. This famous 
city named after Alexander the Great, by whom it 
was founded 332 B. C, is situated on the Mediter- 
ranean coast, at one of the mouths of the river Nile. 

The war thus begun in Egypt continued for sev- 



103 

eral months, during which Csesar was often in the 
greatest danger. The Egyptians attempted to seize 
his ships in the harbor so as to prevent him from 
getting help, either in men or provisions, from out- 
side. Caesar defeated them by setting fire to their 
whole fleet. Some of the burning vessels were so 
near the quay that the flames caught the neighbor- 
ing houses, and spread into the city. In this fire 
the famous Alexandrian Library, which contained 
400,000 manuscript books, was destroyed. Thus 
were lost forever the works of many ancient authors. 
For in those times, the art of printing being unknown, 
books had to be all in writing. Therefore there 
could be but few copies in existence of any one 
book, and, perhaps, of a great many there might be 
only one copy, since it took so much time and labor 
to write them, and there were so few people who 
knew how to do such work. 

Another attempt of the Egyptians against Caesar 
was a scheme to deprive him of water for his army. 
The water supply in Alexandria was got from the 
Nile at the time of its annual overflow. It was con- 
veyed through canals from the river into great reser- 
voirs, or tanks, constructed underground, and in 
every house there was an opening like the mouth of 
a well, through which the water was drawn up in 
buckets. Ganymed, the Egyptian general, caused 



I04 

large quantities of sea water to be pumped out of 
the harbor, and poured into the canals leading to 
Caesar's quarter of the town, thus rendering the 
water there unfit to drink. But Caesar was aeain 
more than a match for the Egyptians. He set his 
men to work digging wells, and they exerted them- 
selves so vigorously that in the very first night 
plenty of fresh water was found. 

During this war, which is known as the Alexan- 
drian war, there were many hard-fought conflicts in 
the city and in the harbor. In one of them, Caesar 
came very near losing his life. He had attempted 
to seize the small island of Pharos, lying close to the 
coast, and had landed upon it, but after a great deal 
of fighting, he and his men were driven to the 
water's edge, and obliged to take to their ships. On 
reaching his own galley, Caesar found it was in dan- 
ger of sinking from the multitude that had crowded 
aboard. Flinging himself into the sea, he swam to 
a vessel that lay at some distance, and It is said that 
he took with him a bundle of valuable papers, which 
he held up and kept safe from the water with one 
hand, while he swam with the other. 

The end of the war in Egypt was the battle of the 
Nile. It took place near the southern point of 
the tract of country lying between the two main 
branches by which the Nile empties itself into the 



I05 

Mediterranean Sea. This was called the Delta, its 
shape resembling that of the letter Delta of the 
Greek alphabet, which is in form a triangle, and 
hence the same name is given to any portion of 
land enclosed between the mouths of a river. 

Caesar having but a few legions in Egypt, might 
have fared badly at the battle of the Nile, had it not 
been for the help of Mithridates, king of Per'ga-mus, 
in Asia Minor, who came with an army to assist him. 
They defeated Ptolemy, and Ptolemy himself was 
drowned in the river in trying to escape. 

Thus was ended the Alexandrian war 47 B. C. 
C^sar then made Cleopatra and a younger brother 
joint rulers of Egypt. Soon afterwards he sailed to 
Asia Minor where he won a great battle near the 
town of Zela, in the Roman province of Pontus. 
This province had been invaded by Phar'na-ces, 
king of the neighboring country of Ar-me'ni-a, who 
refused or delayed to withdraw when ordered by 
C^sar to do so. But at Zela the army of Pharnaces 
was almost totally destroyed. This was Caesar's 
shortest campaign. It is said that he sent the news 
of his victory to Rome in the famous and oft quoted 
Latin words, Veni, Vidi, Vict, (/ caine, I saw, 
I conquered), which well express the rapidity of his 
movements against the Armenian king. 

Caesar then returned to Rome, where he was en- 



io6 

thusiastically welcomed by the people ; but he had 
soon to start out to fight the Pompeian party again, 
for they had not yet given up hope of recovering 
their lost power. Many of the leaders of that party 
had orone to Africa after their defeat at Pharsalia. 
They were now getting ready an army there, with 
the assistance of King Juba of Nu-mid'i-a, and they 
had a large fleet on the Mediterranean. 

The Roman province in Africa was the northern 
portion of that continent, which lies opposite to the 
island of Sicily. This was now the scene of conflict 
for several months. The Pompeian generals were 
Marcus Ca'to and Metellus Sci'pi-o. Cato was a 
virtuous and patriotic man, but a bitter enemy of 
Caesar. Scipio was father-in-law of Pompey. The 
final event of the campaign was the battle of Thap- 
sus (46 B. C), in which Ceesar defeated Scipio and 
King Juba. Thapsus was a coast town on a small 
peninsula of the same name. Juba, Cato and Scipio 
lost their lives in this war, and Numidia was made 
a Roman province. Cato died in defending the town 
of U'ti-ca, hence he is known as Cato Uticensis. 

Within six months from the time he set out for 
Africa, Caesar was back in Rome. He now had his 
great triumphs — one each for his victories over 
the Gauls, Egyptians, Pharnaces and King Juba. 
Triumphs were not allowed for victories won over 



I07 

Roman citizens, and so there was none for Pharsalia. 
The triumphs of Csesar were the grandest ever seen 
in Rome. On four different days there were four 
magnificent processions in which the conqueror was 
borne through the city with his legions, and his spoils 
of war, and his captives, among whom was the brave 
but unfortunate Gallic chief Vercingetorix. 

Besides the grand processions there were games 
and shows of various kinds, and the citizens, we are 
told, were entertained all together at one feast, at 
which there were twenty-two thousand tables. There 
was also a distribution of lands and money among 
the soldiers and poorer citizens. Each of the latter 
got a sum equal to about $io, and each private 
soldier got about ^80. Larger sums were given to 
the officers. 

After thus celebrating his victories and rewarding 
his soldiers, Caesar turned his attention to reforming 
various departments of the government. He made 
many improvements in the Senate, in the public 
o'ffices, and in the system of elections, and he 
enforced the good Julian laws, which he himself had 
got passed in his first consulship. 

One of his most useful works was the reform of 
the calendar. Before his time the Romans had no 
leap year. Either they did not know the exact 
length of a year, or being almost always engaged in 



io8 

war, they had failed to give sufficient attention to the 
matter. They found themselves, therefore, all wrong 
in their months and seasons. In the course of many 
years the additional day in every four years — 
which they took no count of — made a great error. 
Occasionally they tried to get right by adding or in- 
serting days, but having no regular system, they 
never got their calendar exactly correct. Caesar, 
with the help of an Egyptian astronomer, arranged 
the plan of a leap year, and fixed the number of 
days in each month as we now have them. From 
his name this new system was called the Julian 
Calendar. ^ 

While Caesar was thus engaged carrying out great 
measures and forming new plans for the public good, 
his enemies were preparing for another fight. Pom- 
pey's sons — Cneius and Sextus — had resolved to 
carry on the war, and Labienus had joined them in 
raising an army in Spain. News now came to Rome 
that the whole of that country was up against Caesar. 
With his usual promptness, he set out for the field 
of action and reached Spain much sooner than he 
was expected. He arrived there with his legions at 
the end of the year 46 B. C, accompanied by his sis- 
ter's grandson, Oc-taVi-us, then a boy of 1 7, after- 
wards the Emperor Au-gus'tus. 

The campaign lasted about three months, during 



109 

which there were many sieges and skirmishes in dif- 
ferent parts of the country. Caesar was victorious 
in nearly every one of them. The great conflict 
was on March 17, 45 B. C, at Munda, near Cor'- 
du-ba (now Cordova). It is said to have been one 
of the most desperate battles in which Csesar had 
ever been engaged. Goldsmith thus describes it in 
his History of Rome — 

" Pompey drew up his men, by break of day, upon 
the declivity of a hill, with great exactness and order. 
Caesar drew up likewise in the plains below; and 
after advancing a little way from his trenches, he 
ordered his men to make a halt, expecting the enemy 
to come down the hill. This delay made Caesar's 
soldiers begin to murmur ; while Pompey's with full 
vigor poured down upon them, and a dreadful con- 
flict ensued. The first shock was so dreadful, that 
Caesar's men, who had hitherto been used to con- 
quer, now began to waver. Caesar was never in so 
much danger as now; he threw himself several times 
into the very thickest of the battle. ' What,' cried 
he, 'are you going to give up to a parcel of boys 
[meaning Pompey's sons] your general, who is 
grown gray in fighting at your head.?' Upon 
this, his tenth legion exerted themselves with 
more than usual bravery ; and a party of horse being 
detached by Labienus from the camp in pursuit of 



no 



a body of Numidian cavalry, Caesar cried aloud that 
they were flying. This cry instantly spread itself 
through both armies, exciting the one as much as it 
depressed the other. Now, therefore, the tenth legion 
pressed forward, and a total rout soon ensued. Thirty 
thousand men were killed on Cneius Pompey's side, 
and amongst them Labienus, whom Caesar ordered 
to be buried with the funeral honors of a general 
officer." 

This was Caesar's last battle. His campaigns 
were now over. On his return to Rome he was 
again welcomed with great popular rejoicing, and 
extraordinary honors were conferred upon him. He 
was made dictator and Im-pe-ra'tor (commander-in- 
chief, or emperor) for life. Statues of him were 
erected in every town. His portrait was struck on 
medals and coins with the inscription. Pater Pd- 
tri-cE (Father of his Country). It was ordered that 
the anniversary of his birth should always be kept 
as a holiday. The name of the month in which he 
was born was changed to Julius (July). This month 
had previously been called Quin-tilis which means 
fifth. It was the fifth month, March being the first 
month of the Roman year. 

Caesar now began to carry out vast schemes of 
improvement in different parts of the empire. He 
beautified Rome by magnificent public buildings, 



Ill 



he founded libraries, built roads, established colonies 
in many of the provinces ; and these great and useful 
works gave employment to large numbers of the 
people. Many other projects and enterprises he had 
intended to undertake. He proposed to drain and 
turn into profitable land the immense swamps near 
Rome, known as the Pontine Marshes ; to dig a new 
channel for the Tiber from Rome to the sea, so as to 
provide deeper and safer passage for ships ; to con- 
struct harbors and aqueducts, and to erect mounds 
along the shore at the mouth of the Tiber to pre- 
vent the water from breaking in upon the land. He 
also proposed to cut a canal through the isthmus of 
Corinth in Greece.* 

Thus the mind of Csesar was constantly active in 
devising grand schemes for the public good. " He 
was born," says Plutarch, " to do great things. The 
many exploits he had performed did not incline 
him to sit down and enjoy the glory of what he had 
done, but rather raised in him ideas of still greater 
achievements." 

*This great undertaking, designed by Caesar, was not accom- 
plished until our own time. The canal was opened for traffic 
in 1893. It took eleven years to construct it, and it cost 
$5,000,000. 



IX. CESAR'S DEATH. 

O mighty Caesar ! Dost thou he so low ? 

Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, 

Shrunk to this little measure ? Fare thee well. 

Shakespeare. 

But while Caesar was planning and accomplishing 
great projects for the benefit of his country, a con- 
spiracy was formed to kill him, and it was carried 
out in the Senate house itself, on the Ides (15th) of 
March, 44 B. C. The Romans had certain days in 
each month, called Calends, Nones, and Ides. The 
Calends were the first of every month. In March, 
May, July and Octob^, the Nones were the 7th and 
the Ides the 15th. In the other months the Nones 
were the 5th and the Ides the 13th. The other 
days were counted backward from these, thus, 3rd 
before the Ides, &c. 

The leaders of the conspiracy against Caesar were 
men to whom he had been a generous friend. Chief 
amono:st them were Bru'tus and Cas'si-us. Both had 
fought against Caesar at Pharsalia, yet he afterwards 
conferred many favors upon them. Through his 

assistance they had been made praetors for the year 

[112] 



113 

44 B. C. — the very year of the conspiracy. Amongst 
the others who took an active part in the plot were 
Trebonius, Cimber, Casca and Li-ga'ri-us. 

These and others of the conspirators, who num- 
bered in all about 60, were jealous of Caesar. They 
envied his great power, and some of them hated him 
because he had defeated all their attempts against him. 
So they resolved to take his life, and they fixed upon 
the Ides of March for the execution of their design. 

On that day it was to be proposed in the Senate 
by Caesar's friends that he should be made king. 
This title of king, as we have said, was hateful to 
the Roman people. On several occasions, we are 
told, they showed their strong dislike to the idea 
that it should be conferred even on Caesar, whom 
they loved and revered. They were willing that he 
should have the power, but they could not bear the 
name of king. We read in Plutarch that " one day 
when Caesar was returning to Rome from Alba [c: 
neighboring city], some persons ventured to salute 
him by the title of king. Seeing that the people 
were troubled at this strange compliment, he put on 
an air of displeasure, and said his name was not 
king but Caesar." 

On another occasion during the celebration of a 
public festival called the Lu-per-cali-a, at which a 
great multitude of citizens were present, Mark 

Sto. of C^sar — 8 




114 

Antony offered Caesar a royal crown saying, " This 
crown the Roman people confer upon Caesar by my 
hands." A few of the people applauded, but when 
Caesar refused the crown and pushed it away from 
him, the crowd burst into loud cheers. Antony 
pressed him again and again to accept, and, as he 
still refused, the shouts of the people were louder 
and louder. 

But it has been thought that though Caesar re- 
fused the crown, he would have accepted it, if popular 
feeling had been favorable to the proposal. At all 
events it was proposed that it should be offered to 
him in the Senate house on the Ides of March, and 
the conspirators decided that the same place and 
time would be the most proper for the execution of 
their project. 

We are told that Caesar had warninors of his 
approaching fate. There is a story of a soothsayer, 
named Spu-ri'na, having told him that some evil was 
to happen to him on the Ides of March. As he 
was entering the Senate house on the day of 
the murder, Caesar met this man, and said to him 
in a cheerful voice, " Well, Spurina, the Ides of 
March are come," to which the soothsayer replied, 
Yes, but they are not gone." 

We are also told that on the same day, a Greek 
named Ar-tem-i-do'rus handed him a letter, saying. 



115 

"Caesar, read this to yourself and quickly, for it 
contains matter of great importance, which concerns 
you very closely," The letter gave an account of 
the plot. Caesar attempted several times to read it, 
but was interrupted by people talking to him, or 
handing him papers. 

There is another story that on the night before 
the murder, Cal-pur'ni-a, Caesar's wife, dreamt that 
she was weeping over, her husband as she held him, 
murdered, in her arms. In the morning she begged 
him not to go out that day. Caesar seemed disposed 
to yield to her entreaty, and thought of sending a 
message to the Senate that he would not come. 
But the conspirators had arranged that Dec'i-mus 
Brutus, one of their number, should call at Caesar's 
house a short time before the hour fixed for the 
meeting of the Senate, and make sure of his going. 
This was not the Brutus famous in history as one of 
the chiefs of the conspiracy. "He was a person," 
says Plutarch, "in whom Caesar placed such confi- 
dence that he had appointed him his second heir, 
yet he was engaged in the conspiracy with the other 
Brutus and with Cassius." 

Persuaded by Decimus Brutus, C^sar, in spite of 
forebodings, went to the Senate house on the fated 
day. When he entered, all the Senators rose to do 
him honor. He took his seat in a chair of state at 




ai 
< 
in 

u 

O 



<; 
Q 



117 

the foot of a statue of Pompey. As had been 
arranged, Cimber presented a petition praying for 
the pardon of his brother who had been banished 
from Italy by Caesar. All the conspirators crowded 
round, urging him to grant the request. Displeased 
at their persistence, Caesar attempted to rise. Cim- 
ber then seized him by the robe, and pulled him 
down. This was the signal for attack. Casca 
struck him on the neck, but inflicted only a slight 
wound. C^sar turned quickly round crying out, 
" Villain ! Casca, what dost thou mean ? " Then all 
the conspirators drew their swords, " and surrounded 
him in such a manner," says Plutarch, "that what- 
ever wa.y he turned he saw nothing but steel gleam- 
ing in his face, and met nothing but wounds." 
Caesar defended himself for some moments as vigor- 
ously as he could, with a sharp pointed style which 
he held in his hand. But when he saw Brutus 
among the murderers he exclaimed, " You, too, 
Brutus!" and, drawing his robe over his face, he 
gave up the struggle. He fell at the base of Pom- 
pey 's statue pierced by twenty-three wounds. 

Then burst his mighty heart. 

And in his mantle muffling up his face, 

Even at the base of Pompey's statua. 

Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell. 

Shakespeare. 



ii8 

Thus died in the 56th year of his age the greatest of 
all the Romans. He was honored by a great public 
funeral, which was held in the forum, and attended 
by a vast multitude of citizens. The body was laid 
on a grand couch ornamented with ivory and gold, 
and an eloquent funeral oration was deli-vered by 
Mark Antony. The Romans usually burned the 
bodies of their dead and deposited the ashes in 
the family tomb. Ci^sar's body was burned in the 
forum, on the couch where it lay, and the people 
threw upon the blazing pile everything they could 
find at hand. Soldiers threw their weapons, musi- 
cians their instruments, and at last the fire became 
so .great that it spread to some of the buildings 
around the forum, and it w^as with great difficulty 
they were saved from destruction. 

Thus the Roman people paid honor to their dead 
hero. They also erected a monument to his mem- 
ory on which they put the inscription, 

TO THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY. 

This was a nobler title than king. In our own 
country it has been adopted as one of the dis- 
tinctions of the great man who was our first presi- 
dent. The Roman people gave it to Caesar because 
they loved him as their friend and champion. Many 
eminent authors have written about Ceesar, and 



119 

nearly all in words of the highest praise and admira- 
j tion. Truly his name is 

"One of the few, the immortal names 
That were not born to die." 




SHAKESPEARE'S STORY OF THE DEATH OF 

C^SAR. 



In his play of Julius CcBsar, Shakespeare tells in 
a very interesting way the story of the death of the 
illustrious Roman whom he calls "the foremost man 

of all the world." The 
narrative follows 
closely the facts as re- 
corded in history, while 
being enhanced with 
the imaginative and 
poetic power of the 
greatest of dramatists. 
Caesar's last victory, 
as we have seen, was 
in Spain where he 
defeated the sons of 
Pompey. On his re- 
turn to Rome the citi- 
zens were eager to see and welcome the hero, of 
whose exploits they were proud, and so they thronged 

the streets and made holiday for the occasion. But 

[120] 




Br it is Ji Museiivi. 



C^SAR. 



121 

there were some, chiefly of the official class, and 
members of the Senate, who were not friendly to 
Cassar. They disliked him because they were jeal- 
ous of his popularity and power. To this class be- 
longed the two tribunes FlaVi-us and Ma-ruHus, 
who are represented in the opening of Shakespeare's 
play as addressing a crowd in the streets, upbraiding 
them in rough words for their ingratitude in so 
soon forgetting* the great deeds of Pompey. "Go 
home you idle creatures," said Flavins, "is this a 
holiday?" One of the crowd answered that they 
were making it a holiday " to see Caesar and rejoice 
in his triumph." Then the tribunes became very 
angry and Marullus thus gave expression to his 
indignation — 

"You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things ; 

O, you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, 

Knew you not Pompey ? Many a time and oft 

Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements, 

To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops, 

Your infants in your arms, and there have sat 

The live-long day, with patient expectation. 

To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome, 

And when you saw his chariot but appear, 

Have you not made a universal shout, 

That Tiber trembled underneath her banks, 

To hear the replication of your sounds, 

Made in her concave shores ? 




(I23) 



A SOOTHSAYER WARNS C^SAR. 



123 



And do you now put on your best attire ? 
And do you now cull out a holiday ? 
And do you now strew flowers in his way 
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood ? 
Begone: 

Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, 
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague 
That needs must light on this ingratitude." 

Now this day of popular rejoicing in the triumph 
of Caesar happened to be the feast of the Luper- 
caha, which the Romans celebrated every year in 
honor of the god Lu-per'cus or Pan. One of the 
ceremonies on those occasions was what Shakes- 
peare calls "the holy chase," in which two young 
men of high rank ran over a certain course, 
bearing in their hands thongs of leather. With 
these they whipped all whom they met, and many 
people, especially women, put themselves directly 
in the way of the running youths, and stretched out 
their hands eager to receive the blows, which they 
believed would bring great blessings upon them. 

A grand procession attended Caesar to the Luper- 
calia celebrations. He himself was at the head of 
it, accompanied by his wife Calpurnia, and his 
friend Mark Antony, besides other distinguished 
citizens, including Brutus, Cassius and Casca, and 
Cicero, the famous orator. In the crowd there was 



124 

a soothsayer, and even above the sounding of trum- 
pets and the shouting of the multitudes, his shrill 
voice, "shriller than all the music," could be heard 
crying out, " Caesar beware the Ides of March." 
Caesar, too, heard the voice, and he ordered the 
man to be brought before him. 

'■'' Ccesar. Set him before me; let me see his face. 
Cassius. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar, 
CcBsar. What say'st thou to me now ? Speak once again. 
Soothsayer, Beware the Ides of March. 
Ccesar. He is a dreamer; let us leave him: — pass." 

The procession passed on, but Brutus and Cassius 
remained behind, conversing with each other. Cas- 
sius was the prime mover in the conspiracy against 
Caesar, and he wished to have the cooperation of 
Brutus, whom the people loved and trusted. Plu- 
tarch tells us that when Cassius first solicited his 
friends to engage in the enterprise, they all con- 
sented on condition that Brutus should take the 
lead, for they believed that his name would be a 
tower of strength to the movement. If Brutus had 
to do with it, the world, they thought, would judge 
the killing of Caesar to be a just and patriotic act. 

Cassius therefore resolved to get Brutus to join 
the conspiracy, and in their conversation, after the 
procession had passed on, he cautiously approached 
the subject. While they talked, a loud shouting was 



125 

heard from the place where the celebrations were 
going on. " What means this shouting ? " exclaimed 
Brutus, " I do fear the people choose Caesar for their 
king." Cassius was now sure that Brutus did not 
favor the idea of making a king of Caesar. " Since 
you fear it," said he, " I must think you would not 
have it so," to which Brutus answered that he would 
not have it so, although he loved Caesar well. Then 
Cassius spoke more boldly, saying that this Caesar 
who wanted to be lord and master of Rome was no 
better than themselves : — 

"I was born free as Caesar ; so were you; 

We both have fed as well; and we can both 

Endure the winter's cold as well as he, 

For once, upon a raw and gusty day. 

The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, 

Caesar said to me, ' Dar'st thou, Cassius, now 

Leap in with me into this angry flood. 

And swim to yonder point ? ' Upon the word, 

Accouter'd as I was, I plunged in, 

And bade him follow; so, indeed, he did. 

The torrent roar'd; and we did buffet it 

With lusty sinews; throwing it aside 

And stemming it with hearts of controversy. 

But ere we could arrive the point propos'd, 

Caesar cried, ' Help me, Cassius, or I sink.' 

I, as ^neas, our great ancestor. 

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder 

The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tiber 



126 

Did I the tired Caesar; And this man 
Is now become a god." 

While Cassius was speaking more shouting was 
heard, whereupon Brutus exclaimed : 

"Another general shout! 

I do believe, that these applauses are 

For some new honors that are heap'd on Caesar." 

Then Cassius continued the discourse saying that 
there was nothing in the name Caesar or the man to 
make him any greater than Brutus. 

"What should be in that Caesar ? 
Why should that name be sounded more than yours ? 
Write them together, yours is as fair a name; 
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; 
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure them, 
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar. 
Now in the names of all the gods at once, 
Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, 
That he has grown so great ? " 

Cassius also reminded Brutus of that other Brutus, 
famous in ancient Roman history, as the leader of 
the party that expelled the tyrant king Tarquin, and 
abolished monarchy in Rome: — 

" O, you and I have heard our fathers say. 
There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd 
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome 
As easily as a king." 



12/ 

Marcus Brutus, to whom Cassius was speaking, 
claimed to be descended from the ancient Brutus, 
and he understood very well the meaning of this 
reference to his ancestor. But though perceiving 
the design of Cassius, he was not yet prepared to 
enter into it. He was, however, favorable to 
the enterprise, and promised to give it careful 
consideration : 

" What you have said 
I will consider; what you have to say 
I will with patience hear, and find a time 
Both meet to hear and answer such high things." 

Presently the conversation was interrupted by the 
return of the procession. Brutus noticed that C^sar 
looked angry, and that Calpurnia's cheeks were 
pale. Something unpleasant had, no doubt, occurred. 
What it was, Cassius said they would learn from 
Casca who had been present at the celebrations. 
But Caesar, too, had his eyes about him, and casting 
a suspicious look in the direction where Brutus and 
his companion stood, he remarked to Antony that 
Cassius was a dangerous man, being too much given 
to thinking. 

Ccesar. Let me have men about me that are fat; 
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o'nights; 
Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look; 
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. 



128 

Antony. Fear him not, Caesar, he's not dangerous. 

He is a noble Roman, and well given. 

Cc^sar. Would he were fatter: — But I fear him not: 

Yet if my name were liable to fear, 

I do not know the man I should avoid 

So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much; 

He is a great observer, and he looks 

Quite through the deeds of men; he loves no plays, 

As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music; 

Such men as he be never at heart's ease 

While they behold a greater than themselves. 

And therefore are they very dangerous. 

The conqueror and his train now passed on, and 
Casca joining Brutus and Cassius, related to them 
how at the LupercaHa festival Antony had offered 
Caesar a crown. " I saw Mark Antony offer him a 
crown," said Casca, " and he put it by [pushed it 
away from him] once, but for all that, to my think- 
ing, he would fain have had it. Then he offered it 
to him again ; then he put it by again ; but, to my 
thinking, he was very loath to lay his fingers off it. 
And then he offer'd it the third time ; he put it the 
third time by: and still as he refus'd it, the rabblement 
[crowd] shouted and clapp'd their hands and threw 
up their caps and utter'd such a deal of breath 
because Caesar refus'd the crown, that it had almost 
choked Caesar." 

After some further conversation, Brutus and 



129 

Casca retired. Cassius was well pleased in think- 
ing that he would be able to win Brutus over to the 
conspiracy; still he felt that he should have to pro- 
ceed with much caution, for Brutus, he knew, loved 
Caesar, and was too honorable a man to raise hand 
against him unless satisfied that the safety and wel- 
fare of his country required it. But Cassius had a 
plan by which he hoped to produce the desired 
Impression on the mind of the noble young Roman. 
He would employ men to throw In at his windows 
papers in different handwritings, as If coming from 
different persons, all expressing high respect for his 
name, and making reference to the ambition of Caesar. 

" I will this night 
In several hands, in at the windows throw, 
As if they came from several citizens. 
Writings all tending to the great opinion 
That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely 
Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at." 

Some time after this a great storm of thunder and 
lightning swept over the city. It was on the night 
before the Ides of March. The people were much 
alarmed, both by the violence of the tempest and 
by the reports of miraculous sights in the streets. 
Casca rushing breathless and with drawn sword into 
one of the public squares, and finding Cicero there, 
told him about what he himself had seen and heard 

STO. OF C^SAR — 9 



130 

of. " I saw a slave whose hands, though surrounded 
with flame as large as twenty torches, yet remained 
unburned. Near the Capitol I met a lion and drew 
my sword upon him, but the beast, only glaring at 
me, passed by without offering me harm. A crowd 
of women, pale with terror, declared they saw men, 
all on fire, walk up and down the streets. Yester- 
day at noon an owl sat in the market place, hooting 
and shrieking." 

These, Casca thought, were fearful omens, which 
meant that something unusual and important was 
about to happen. " Strange things indeed they are," 
said Cicero, "but men may misinterpret such occur- 
rences." He then bade Casca good night, and pres- 
ently Cassius came along. Their talk soon turned 
upon Caisar and his ambition, and Casca spoke of 
the rumor that the senators intended next day to 
make the dictator king. 

"Indeed, they say the senators to-morrow 
Mean to establish Csesar as a king ; 
And he shall wear his crown by sea and land, 
In every place, save here in Italy." 

Upon this Cassius declared for himself that he 
would not live to see Csesar king. 

" I know where I will wear this dagger then, 
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius." 



. 131 

Casca being in the same frame of mind, it was 
not difficult to induce him to join in the enterprise, 
in which Cassius had already enlisted several citizens 
of hio^h rank and influence. All that was now wanted 
was the help of Brutus, and the conspirators resolved 
that they would call upon him during the night. 
" He sits high in the people's hearts," said Casca, 
"and that which in us would appear a crime, his 
approval will change to virtue and worthiness." 

Meanwhile Brutus was in his own house ponder- 
ing over what Cassius had said to him. Having 
little inclination to sleep, though it was late in the 
night, he walked in his garden, thinking on the am- 
bition of Caesar and the evils which it threatened to 
bring upon Rome. " Only by his death," he said, 
"can we be safe. I have no personal cause to hate 
him. It is for the general good I am concerned." 

While Brutus was thus considering the question, 
one of his servants brought him a letter which had 
been found at the window, and opening it he read 
these words: 

Brutus thou sleep' st : awake and see thyself. 
Shall Rome^ etc. Speak^ strike, redress ! 

This was one of the papers which Cassius had 
got his friend Cinna to put in several places where 
Brutus would be sure to find them. What did it 
mean, Brutus asked himself. 



132 

"'Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake! ' 

Such instigations have been often dropp'd 

Where I have took them up. 

'Shall Rome, etc' Thus must I piece it out: 

Shall Rome stand under one man's awe ? What! Rome ? 

My ancestors did from the streets of Rome 

The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king. 

'Speak, strike, redress!' Am I entreated then 

To speak and strike ? O Rome, I make thee promise; 

If the redress will follow, thou receivest 

Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus! " 

At this moment a knocking was heard at the gate. 
It was Cassius with the other conspirators : Casca, 
Decius Brutus (cousin of Marcus), Cinna, Cimber 
and Trebonius. They were all admitted, and then 
they made their plans for killing Caesar that very 
day (for day had already dawned) at the Capitol. 
" But it is doubtful yet," said Cassius, " whether 
Caesar will come forth. Perhaps the terror of this 
night may hold him from the Capitol to-day, for of 
late he has become superstitious." " Never fear 
that," said Decius Brutus, " I can persuade him. I 
can give his humor the true bent, and I will bring 
him to the Capitol." 

Meantime, there was much uneasiness at the house 
of Caesar, for Calpurnia had had bad dreams. In 
her sleep she had thrice cried out, " Help ! they 
murder Caesar," and, waking in the early morning, 



' 133 

she begged her husband to remain at home that 
day. She told him of horrible sights that had been 
seen out of doors during the night — of dead men 
walking out of their graves, of warriors fighting in 
the clouds. 

"A lioness hath whelped in the streets; 

And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead: 

Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds, 

In ranks and squadrons, and right form of war, 

Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol: 

The noise of battle hurtled in the air, 

Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan; 

And ghosts did shriek, and squeal about the streets, 

O Caesar! these things are beyond all use, 

And I do fear them." 

But the brave Caesar had no fear. If it were the 
will of the gods, he said, that evil were to happen 
to him, it could not be avoided. As for the won- 
derful events of the night why should they concern 
him any more than the citizens in general ? Cal- 
purnia, however, would have it that they were meant 
as a warning to Caesar. 

" When beggars die there are no comets seen, 

The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes." 

Still Caesar was not persuaded. What of it, he 
said, though the " necessary end " of all were to come 
to him that day.f^ 



134 

" Cowards die many times before their deaths; 
The valiant never taste of death but once. 
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, 
It seems to me most strange that men should fear; 
Seeing that death, a necessary end, 
Will come, when it will come." 

But the augurs, who had been consulted, warned 
Caesar that he must not stir forth, for all the signs 
foreboded evil. Therefore, though he had no fear 
for himself, he would have yielded to his wife's en- 
treaties, and he was on the point of sending a mes- 
sage to the Senate saying that he would not come, 
when Decimus Brutus entered, and by artful persua- 
sion soon succeeded in accomplishing his purpose. 
"The Senate," he said, "have concluded 

To give this day a crow^n to mighty Caesar. 
If you shall send them word you will not come 
Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock 
Apt to be render'd, for some one to say, 
'Break up the Senate till another time 
When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams,' 
If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper 
' Lo, Caesar is afraid ? ' " 

These arguments had the desired effect, and 
Caesar, turning to his wife said: 

" How foolish do your fears seems now, Calpurnia! 
I am ashamed I did yield to them. 
Give me my robe, for I will go." 



135 

On his way to the Capitol Caesar was attended 
by a numerous retinue of distinguished citizens. 
The soothsayer was there too, and Caesar, happen- 
ing to see him, exclaimed, as if in contempt of the 
man's former warning: "The Ides of March are 
come," to which the soothsayer replied, "Ay, Caesar, 
but not gone." 

There w^as in the crowd another man who tried 
to warn him, and he put a paper into Caesar's hand 
which, had he read it, might have defeated the 
whole conspiracy. This was Artemidorus, a teacher 
of oratory, who, being acquainted with several of 
the associates of Brutus and Cassius, had obtained 
information of their plot. The paper contained 
this message : 

" Caesar, beware of Brutus ; take heed of Cassius ; 
come not near Casca ; have an eye to Cinna ; trust 
not Trebonius ; mark well Metellus Cimber ; Decius 
Brutus loves thee not ; thou hast wronged Caius 
Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men, 
and it is bent against Caesar. If thou beest not 
immortal, look about you ; security gives way [that 
is, unguardedness opens a way] to conspiracy. The 
mighty gods defend thee!" "Artemidorus." 

But Decius had taken care that another paper 
should be handed to C^sar to occupy his attention, 
and so the warning of Artemidorus was not read. 



136 

Decius. Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read, 

At your best leisure, this his humble suit. 

Arteinidoriis. O, Caesar, read mine first; for mine's a suit. 

That touches Caesar nearer: Read it, great Caesar. 

CcBsar. What touches us ourself, shall be last serv'd. 

Arteinidoriis. Delay not, Caesar; read it instantly. 

CcBsar. What, is the fellow mad ? 

Cassius. What, urge you your petitions in the street ? 

Come to the Capitol. 

Presently Csesar entered the Senate house. All 
the conspirators were there, and according to a pre- 
arranged plan, they all, one after another, approached 
the dictator and petitioned him for the pardon of 
Cimber's brother who, some time before, had been 
banished from Rome. Caesar sternly refused. He 
would not yield even to the prayer of Brutus, whom 
he loved. 

Then Casca, suddenly raising his dagger and ex- 
claiming, " Speak, hands, for me ! " stabbed Caesar 
in the neck. Instantly weapons flashed on every 
side, and Caesar saw that resistance was useless. 
When he beheld Brutus striking at him, he drew 
his mantle over his face and resigned himself to his 
fate, uttering the famous words, " And you, too, 
Brutus!" He fell, pierced by many wounds, at the 
foot of a statue of the great Pompey, which stood 
close to the consul's chair. The conspirators, seeing 
the deed accomplished, shouted in triumph that 



137 

Rome was now free, since the tyrant was dead. 
Cinna exclaimed: 

*' Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! 
Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets." 

Brutus, when he saw a number of the senators 
and people fleeing in terror, called to them to stand 
still and have no dread: 

" People and senators, be not affirighted; 
Fly not, stand still, ambition's debt is paid." 

Mark Antony had already fled to his own house, 
fearing that as he had been the close friend of 
Cccsar, the conspirators might have designs against 
his life, too. But he sent his servant to Brutus to 
inquire whether he might safely come and learn for 
what reason Caesar had been killed. 

** If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony 
May safely come to him, and be resolv'd [informed] 
How Caesar hath deserv'd to lie in death, 
Mark Antony will not love Caesar dead 
So well as Brutus living; but will follow 
The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus." 

Brutus returned a friendly answer, inviting An- 
tony to come at once, and assuring him that no 
injury should be done to him. Antony accordingly 
hastened to the Senate house, and when he beheld 



138 

the dead body of Caesar, he exclaimed in accents of 
grief : 

" O mighty Caesar! Dost thou lie so low ? 
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, 
Shrunk to this little measure ? Fare thee well." 

He then said to Brutus and his associates that, if 
they wished his death, there was no time so fit for 
him to die as that hour in which Caesar had died. 
Brutus repHed that they did not desire his death, 
but that, on the contrary, they sought his good will 
and fellowship. 

" O Antony, beg not your death of us. 
Though now we must appear bloody and cruel, 

- As, by our hands and this our present act, 
You see we do, yet see you but our hands 
And this the bleeding business they have done; 
Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful; 
And pity to the general wrong of Rome 
Hath done this deed on Gaesar. For your part 
Our arms in strength of manhood, and our hearts 
Of brothers' temper, do receive you in. 
With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence." 

Antony, however, was not disposed to make 
friends with the men who had killed him who had 
been his greatest friend, yet, he said, if they would tell 
him wherein Csesar had been dangerous, he might 
even love them. 



139 

*' Friends am I with you all and love you all, 
Upon this hope, that you shall give me reasons 
Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous." 

Brutus replied that they had reasons which should 
satisfy Antony, though he were the son of Caesar. 
Antony then begged permission to honor his dead 
friend by delivering an address at his funeral. This 
request was granted, but Brutus resolved that he 
himself would first speak to the people and tell them 
why Caesar had been killed. 

" I will myself into the pulpit first 
And show the reason of our Caesar's death." 

Brutus and Cassius then repaired to the forum 
where a vast multitude of citizens had assembled, 
all excited by the news which had already spread 
through the city, and all impatient to hear what ex- 
planation would be offered. " We will be satisfied, 
let us be satisfied," they cried as they crowded around 
Brutus, who now ascended the pulpit or platform 
from which Roman orators usually addressed the 
people. There was much noise and confusion, but 
at length silence was obtained, and Brutus began to 
speak: 

" Romans, countrymen, and lovers [friends] ! hear 
me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear : 
believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine 



140 

honor, that you may believe : censure [judge] me in 
your wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may 
the better judge. If there be any in this assembly, 
any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' 
love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that 
friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this 
is my answer : — Not that I loved Caesar less, but 
that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar 
were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were 
dead, to live all free men ? As Caesar loved me, I 
weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; 
as he was valiant, I honor him : but, as he was am- 
bitious, I slew him. There is tears for his love ; joy 
for his fortune ; honor for his valor ; and death for 
his ambition. Who is here so base that would be a 
bondman ? If any, speak ; for him have I offended. 
Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman ? 
If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is 
here so vile that will not love his country.? If any, 
speak ; for him have I offended. I pause for a reply." 

Here there were loud cries from the audience of 
" None, Brutus, none," and the speaker continued : 

" Then none have I offended. I have done no 
more to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. The 
question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol ; his 
glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy, nor 
his offenses enforced, for which he suffered death." 



141 

At this point Antony and several of his friends 
entered, bearing with them the body of Caesar, for 
it was in the forum that funeral orations in honor 
of illustrious citizens were always delivered. Brutus 
then resumed, and concluded his speech in these 
words : 

" Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony: 
who, though he had no hand in his death, shall re- 
ceive the benefit of his dying, and a place in the 
commonwealth ; as which of you shall not ? With 
this I depart — that, as I slew my best lover for 
the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for 
myself, when it shall please my country to need my 
death." 

This speech seemed to have, for the moment at 
least, satisfied the multitude, for when the speaker 
finished there were loud shouts of applause, some of 
the people crying out that they should honor Brutus 
by carrying him home in triumph to his house. But 
presently Antony ascended the pulpit, and soon he 
changed the mood of the fickle crowd. He talked 
of Caesar's great exploits, and he reminded them 
that Caesar had three times refused the crown. 

" You all did see that on the Lupercal - — 
I thrice presented him a kingly crown, 
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? 
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious." 




Mark Aintony Addressing the People. 



(142) 



143 

He spoke also of a will, which Caesar had made, 
leaving his gardens and orchards for public pleasure 
grounds, and, besides, leaving a large sum of money 
to be divided among the citizens. Antony at first 
pretended that he did not wish to read the will, lest 
it might excite the people too much, and when they 
cried out, " We'll hear the will, read it, Mark An- 
tony," he still hesitated. 

"Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it; 
It is not meet you know how Csesar lov'd you. 
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men; 
And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar, 
It will inflame you, it will make you mad: " 

This, of course, made them all the more eager to 
hear it, as the artful orator well knew it would, so they 
demanded the will, and at the same time began to 
exclaim in angry words against the men who killed 
Caesar, — " They were villains, murderers: the will! 
read the will." But Antony was resolved to inflame 
still more the passions of his hearers, and he 
continued : 

" You will compel me, then, to read the will ? 
Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar, 
And let me show you him that made the will. 
Shall I descend ? and will you give me leave ? " 

Then there were shouts of " Come down," " You 



144 

shall have leave," " Room for Antony, most noble 
Antony." Whereupon, descending from the pulpit 
and raising up Coesar's mantle, he showed it to the 
multitude, pointing out, while he proceeded with his 
speech, the rents made in it by the swords of the 
assassins. 

" If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. 
You all do know this mantle: I remember 
The first time ever Caesar put it on; 
'Twas on a summer's evening in his tent; 
That day he overcame the Nervii: — 
Look! in this place ran Cassius' dagger through: 
See, what a rent the envious Casca made: 
Through this, the well beloved Brutus stabb'd; 
And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away, 
Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it. 
As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd 
If Brutus so unkindly knock'd or no; 
For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel: 
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar lov'd him. 
This was the most unkindest cut of all: 
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, 
Ingratitude, more strong than traitor's arms, 
Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart; 
And, in his mantle muffling up his face, 
Even at the base of Pompey's statua, 
Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell. 
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen. 
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, 
Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us." 



145 

In this strain Antony continued to speak until 
the people were stirred up to the highest pitch of 
fury, and they began to cry wildly for vengeance, 
declaring that they would kill the "traitors." The 
orator now reminded them of the will, which in 
their mad excitement they had almost forgotten, and 
again he continued : 

" Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal. 
To every Roman citizen he gives, 
To every several man, seventy-five drachmas. * 
Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, 
His private arbors and new-planted orchards, 
On this side Tiber; he hath left them you. 
And to your heirs forever, common pleasures, 
To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves. 
Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?" 

Thus Antony concluded his speech. The citizens 
in a frenzy of rage, resolved that after having burned 
Caesar s body, according to the funeral custom of the 
Romans, they would set fire to the houses of the 
murderers. 

" We'll burn his body in the holy place. 
And with the brands fire the traitors' houses. 
Take up the body." 

Voices. " Go fetch fire. Pluck down benches. 
Pluck down forms, windows, anything." 

* About fourteen American dollars. 

STO. OF Cv^SAR — lO 



146 

The vast crowd of citizens then left the forum 
bearing with them the corpse, and after they had 
departed, Antony exultingly exclaimed: 

" Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot. 
Take thou what course thou wilt." 

Soon after these events, Oc-ta'vi-us (grand-nephew 
of Csesar), Antony, and Lep'i-dus became the rulers 
of the empire. They were known as the Second 
Triumvirate. The conspirators, fearing the ven- 
geance of the populace, had fled from the city. 
Brutus and Cassius raised forces in Greece and Asia 
to fight the Triumvirs, who had become tyrants and 
had cruelly put to death a number of prominent 
citizens, merely on suspicion that they had not been 
friendly to Caesar. At Phi-lip'pi, in Mac'e-do'ni-a, 
the final struggle took place. There two great bat- 
tles were fought between the two armies, one led by 
Octavius and Antony, the other by Brutus and Cas- 
sius. Some time before these engagements the 
forces of Brutus and Cassius were encamped at Sar- 
dis in Asia Minor. Here, as Brutus was one night 
sitting in his tent, reading by the light of a taper, 
the ghost of Caesar appeared to him. When he first 
saw the figure, he thought it was the weakness of his 
eyes that shaped the " monstrous apparition," but then 
it moved towards him, and he boldly questioned it. 



147 

"Ha! who comes here? 
I think it is the weakness of mine eyes 
That shapes this monstrous apparition. 
It comes upon me. Art thou anything? 
Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil, 
That makest my blood cold and my hair to stare ? 
Speak to me what thou art. 
Ghost. Thy evil spirit, Brutus. 
Brutus. Why comest thou ? 

Ghost. To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi. 
Brutus. Well ; then I shall see thee again ? 
Ghost. Ay, at Philippi. {Ghost vanishes.) 
Brutus. Why, I will see thee at Philippi, then. 
Now I have taken heart thou vanishest: 
111 spirit, I would hold more talk with thee." 

At the battle of Philippi Brutus and Cassius were 
defeated, and rather than fall as prisoners into the 
hands of the enemy, they put an end to their own 
lives. Each died by rushing upon the point of his 
own sword held in the hand of his servant. As 
Cassius fell he exclaimed: 

"Caesar, thou art reveng'd 
Even with the sword that kill'd thee." 

Brutus died exclaiming to his servant, Strato, who 
held the sword : 

"Farewell, good Strato. — Caesar, now be still: 
I kill'd not thee with half so good a will." 



148 

When Antony heard of the death of Brutus, he 
spoke in eloquent words of the noble Roman's purity 
of motive and patriotic purpose in what he did 
against Caesar. 

"This was the noblest Roman of them all: 
All the conspirators save only he 
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; 
He only, in a general honest thought 
And common good to all, made one of them. 
His life was gentle, and the elements 
So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up 
And say to all the world 'This was a man!"* 



OPINIONS OF EMINENT WRITERS ON THE 
CHARACTER OF C^SAR. 

I. Ancient Authors. 

PLUTARCH— ZzWj. 

HIS ACHIEVEMENTS BEAR AWAY THE PALM. 

Whether we compare him with the generals of his 
own time, or those who flourished a little before 
him, Csesars achievements bear away the palm. 
One he surpassed in the difliculty of the scene of 
action, another in the extent of the countries he sub- 
dued; this, in the number and strength of the ene- 
mies he overcame, that, in the savage manners and 
treacherous disposition of the people he humanized ; 
one in mildness and clemency to his prisoners, 
another in bounty and magnificence to his troops; 
and all, in the number of battles that he won. 

His whole conduct showed that he did not accu- 
mulate riches in the course of his wars, to minister 
to luxury, or to serve any pleasures of his own ; but 
that he laid them up in a common bank, as prizes to 

[149] 



150 

be obtained by distinguished valor, and that he con- 
sidered himself no farther rich than as he was in a 
condition to do justice to the merit of his soldiers. 
A thing that contributed to make the soldiers invin- 
cible was their seeing Caesar always take his share 
in danger, and never desire any exemption from 
labor and fatigue. 

As for his exposing his person to danger, they 
were not surprised at it, because they knew his pas- 
sion for glory, but they were astonished at his 
patience under toil, so far in all appearance above 
his bodily powers. For he was of a slender make, 
fair, of a delicate constitution, and subject to violent 
headaches and epileptic fits. 

He was a good horseman in his early years, and 
brought that exercise to such perfection by practice, 
that he could sit a horse at full speed with his hands 
behind him. 

CICERO — LeUers. 

DIGNITY, JUSTICE AND GOOD SENSE. 

In Caesar I find a mild and forgiving disposition. 
To this must be added the extraordinary pleasure he 
takes in talents of the highest order. He is a man 
of most acute judgment and much foresight. I am 
constantly struck by the dignity, justice, and good 
sense of Caesar. 



151 

SUETONIUS — Z/wj of the Ccesars, 

PERFECT IN THE USE OF ARMS. 

He was perfect in the use of arms, an accom- 
plished rider, and able to endure fatigue beyond all 
belief. On a march, he used to go at the head of 
his troops, sometimes on horseback, but oftener on 
foot, with his head bare in all kinds of weather. He 
would travel post in a light carriage without bag- 
gage, at' the rate of a hundred miles a day; and if 
he was stopped by floods in the rivers, he swam 
across, or floated on skins inflated with wind, so that 
he often anticipated intelligence of his movements. 

In his expeditions, it is difficult to say whether 
his caution or his daring was the more conspicuous. 
He never marched his army by roads which were 
exposed to ambuscades, without having previously 
examined the nature of the ground by his scouts. 

He not only fought pitched battles, but made 
sudden attacks when an opportunity offered ; often 
at the end of a march, and sometimes during the 
most violent storms, when nobody could imagine he 
would stir. Nor was he ever backward in fighting, 
until towards the end of his life. He then was of 
opinion that the oftener he had been crowned with 
success, the less he ought to expose himself to new 
hazards ; and that nothing he could gain by a vie- 



152 

tory would compensate for what he might lose by a 
miscarriage. He never defeated the enemy without 
driving them from their camp, and giving them no 
time to rally their forces. When the issue of a bat- 
tle was doubtful, he sent away all the horses, and his 
own first, that he and his men, having no means of 
flight, might be under the greater necessity of stand- 
ing their ground. 

SALLUST — Catiline Conspiracy. 

EMINENT BY GENEROSITY AND MUNIFICENCE. 

Caesar grew eminent by generosity and munifi- 
cence. He was esteemed for his humanity and 
benevolence. He acquired renown by giving, re- 
lieving and pardoning. In him there was a refuge 
for the unfortunate. His easiness of temper was 
admired. He had applied himself to a life of energy 
and activity. Intent upon the interest of his friends, 
he was neglectful of his own. He refused nothing 
to others that was worthy of acceptance, while for 
himself he desired great power. 

VELLEIUS PATERCULUS — i^?j/^r>/^/ Rome. 

FIRST OF ALL HIS COUNTRYMEN IN PERSONAL BEAUTY, 

In personal beauty he was the first of all his 
countrymen ; in vigor of mind indefatigable ; liberal 



153 

to excess; in spirit elevated above the nature and 
conception of man; in the grandeur of his designs, 
the celerity of his military operations, and in his 
cheerful endurance of dangers, exactly resembling 
Alexander the Great when free from passion. 

QUINTILIAN. 

SPOKE WITH THE SAME ENERGY WITH WHICH HE FOUGHT. 

If Caesar had devoted himself to the forum only, 
no other Roman orator could have been named as a 
rival to Cicero. He possessed so much force, such 
acuteness, and liveliness, that it appears that he 
spoke with the same energy with which he fought, 
and his oratory was adorned with a wonderful ele- 
gance of language, to which he gave particular 
attention. 

II. Modern Authors. 

Dr. smith — Classical Dictionary. 

THE GREATEST MAN OF ANTIQUITY. 

Julius Caesar was the greatest man of antiquity. 
He was gifted by nature with the most various 
talents, and was distinguished by the most extra- 
ordinary attainments in the most diversified pursuits. 
He was at one and the same time a general, a states- 
man, a lawgiver, a jurist, an orator, a poet, a histo- 



154 

rian, a philologer, a mathematician and an architect. 
He was equally fitted to excel in all, and has given 
proofs that he would have surpassed almost all other 
men in any subject to which he devoted the ener- 
gies of his extraordinary mind. During the whole 
of his busy life he found time for literary pursuits, 
and was the author of many works, the most of 
which have been lost. The purity of his Latin and 
the clearness of his style were celebrated among the 
ancients themselves, and are conspicuous in his 
Commentaries, which are his only works that have 
come down to us. 

ANTHONY TROLLOPE— The Commentaries of Ccesar, 

A CAREER UNEQUALLED IN HISTORY. 

The common consent of reading men will prob- 
ably acknowledge that there is no name so great as 
that of Julius Caesar. 

It may perhaps be fairly said that the Commen- 
taries of Csesar are the beginning of modern history. 

That he had done his work, and that he died in 
time to save his name and fame from the evil deeds, 
of which unlimited power in the state would too 
probably have caused the tyrant to be guilty, was 
perhaps not the least fortunate circumstance in a 
career which for good fortune has been unequalled 
in history. 



155 

Dr. LIDDELL — Jlzsforj/ of Rome. 

UTTERLY CARELESS OF MEANS TO GAIN HIS END. 

As a general he had few superiors; as a statesman 
no equal. That which stamps him as a man of true 
greatness is the entire absence of vanity and self- 
conceit from his character. If it were not known 
that Caesar was the narrator of his own campaigns, 
no one could guess that cold and dispassionate nar- 
rative to be from his pen. His genial temper and 
easy, unaffected manners bear testimony to the 
same point. It is well known, indeed, that he paid 
great attention to his personal appearance — a foible 
which he shared in common with many great men 
equally free from other vanity. In youth he was 
strikingly handsome. His hard life and unremit- 
ting activity furrowed his face with lines, and left 
him with that meagre visage which is made familiar 
to us from his coins. To the same cause is to be 
attributed his liability in later life to fits of an epi- 
leptic nature. But even in these days he was sedu- 
lous in arranging his robes, and was pleased to have 
the privilege of wearing a laurel crown to hide the 
scantiness of his hair. He seldom, if ever, allowed 
pleasure to interfere with business. 

As a general, Caesar was probably no less inferior 
to Pompey than Sylla to Marius. Yet his successes 



156 

in war, achieved by a man who, in his forty-ninth 
year, had hardly seen a camp, add to our conviction 
of his real genius. Those successes were due not 
so much to scientific and calculated maneuvers, as 
to rapid audacity of movement and perfect mastery 
over the wills of men. That he caused the death 
and captivity of some million of Gauls, to provide 
treasure and form an army for his political purposes, 
is shocking to us; but it was not so to Roman 
morality. Any Roman commander, with like pow- 
ers, except, perhaps, Cato, would have acted in like 
manner. 

But the clemency with which Caesar spared the 
lives of his opponents in the civil war, and the 
easy indulgence with which he received them into 
favor, were peculiarly his own. His political career 
was troubled by no scruples; to gain his end he was 
utterly careless of the means. But before we judge 
him severely, we must remember the manner in 
which the Marian party had been trampled under 
foot by Sylla and the Senate. If, however, the 
mode in which he rose to power was questionable, 
the mode in which he exercised it was admirable. 
By the action of constant civil broils the constitu- 
tional system of Rome had given way to anarchy, 
and there seemed no escape except by submission 
to the strong domination of one capable man. The 



157 

only effect of Caesar's fall was to cause a renewal of 
bloodshed for another half generation ; and then his 
work was finished by a far less noble and generous 
ruler. Those who slew Caesar were guilty of a 
great crime and a still greater blunder. 

Encyclopedia Britannica. 

COURSE OF HISTORY MARKED OUT BY HIS GENIUS. 

It is difficult to see how such a man could have 
been produced by the wants of any age, but there is 
no doubt that the course of future history was 
marked out in no slight degree by the genius and 
foresight of this single individual. 

CHARLES MERIVALE — ^w/(7r>/ of the Romans under the Empire. 

NOBLE AMBITION WITH FEARFUL WANT OF MORAL PRINCIPLE. 

The gentleness of Caesar's manners in his inter- 
course with his associates presents an amiable 
feature in the character of a man so much their 
superior. His skill and spirit in historical narration 
are sufficiently attested by the works which have 
descended to us under his name. Caesar could be 
reading, writing, dictating and listening at the same 
time. He combined literature with action, humanity 
with sternness, freethinking with superstition, en- 
ergy with voluptuousness, a noble and liberal am- 
bition with a fearful want of moral principle. 



158 



Dr. ARNOLD — Later Roman Commonwealth. 
NEVER DID ANY MAN OCCASION SO LARGE AN AMOUNT OF HUMAN MISERY. 

Caesar is said to have been in his stature tall, and 
of fair complexion, but with black and lively eyes. 
In attention to his person and dress he almost ex- 
ceeded the bounds of mere neatness ; and in gratify- 
ing his tastes for villas, furniture, pictures, statues, 
and in the choice of his slaves, he was accustomed 
to spare no expense or trouble. He was temperate 
in his eating and drinking, as became a soldier; and 
his activity of body corresponded with the extraordi- 
nary vigor of his mind. It is a remarkable feature 
in his character, that he seems to have been alive to 
so many and such various enjoyments; a lover of 
every kind of intellectual gratification, from the 
humblest of the fine arts to the highest and deepest 
parts of philosophy, enamored at the same time of 
popular honors, and, above all things, ambitious of 
political greatness. His Commentaries, which 
alone of all his writings have reached posterity, are 
admirably calculated to answer the purpose for 
which they were designed, the impressing his read- 
ers with the most favorable notions of himself. Al- 
though the representations which they contain are a 
continued picture of his abilities and successes, yet, 
because they are given in a quiet and unpretending 



159 

style, they have gained credit for truth and impar- 
tiahty; and critics in their simpHcity, have extolled 
the modesty of the author, because he speaks of 
himself in the third person. 

As a general it is needless to pronounce his 
eulogy; we may observe, however, that the quality 
which most contributed to his s-uccess on several 
occasions was his great activity; and although this 
may seem a virtue no way peculiar to men of supe- 
rior minds, yet in the practical business of life there 
is none which produces more important results. 
Nor is it, in fact, an ordinary quality when exhibited 
in persons invested with extensive power; for then 
it implies quickness and decision in difficulties, than 
which nothing confers on one man a more com- 
manding superiority over others. 

In his political career Caesar was at once patient 
and daring; and the uniform success of all his 
schemes through so many years, must prove his 
judgment in the choice of means to accomplish his 
purposes. One weakness he seems to have pos- 
sessed, and that was vanity; which he indulged 
unseasonably and fatally in receiving so greedily 
the honors which were at last heaped upon him, and 
in disgusting the public feeling by expressing with 
so little reserve, his sense of his own superiority. 

If from the intellectual we turn to the moral 



i6o 

character of Caesar, the whole range of history can 
hardly furnish a picture of greater deformity. Never 
did any man occasion so large an amount of human 
misery, with so little provocation. In his campaigns 
in Gaul, he is said to have destroyed one million of 
men in battle, and to have made prisoners of one 
million more, many of whom were destined to perish 
as gladiators, and all were torn from their country 
and reduced to slavery. The slaughter which he 
occasioned in the civil wars cannot be computed; 
nor can we estimate the degree of suffering caused 
in every part of the empire by his spoliations and 
confiscations, and by his various acts of extortion 
and oppression which he tolerated in his followers. 
When we consider that the sole object of his con- 
quests in Gaul was to enrich himself and discipline 
his army, that he might be enabled the better to 
attack his country; and that the sole provocation on 
which he commenced the civil war, was the resolu- 
tion of the Senate to recall him from a command 
which he had already enjoyed for nine years, after 
having obtained it in the beginning by tumult and 
violence; we may judge what credit ought to be 
given him for his clemency in not opening lists of 
proscription, after his sword had already cut off his 
principal adversaries and levelled their party with 
the dust. Yet, after all his crimes, the circum- 



i6i 

stances of his death render him almost an object of 
compassion; and though it cannot be said of his 
assassins that 

" Their greater crime made his like specks appear, 
From which the sun in glory is not clear," 

yet we naturally sympathize with the victim, when 
the murderers, by having abetted or countenanced 
his offenses, had deprived themselves of all just 
title to punish them, and when his fall was only 
accomplished by the treachery of assassination. 

De QUINCY — Essay on Ccesar. 

WITHOUT HIM THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO PERFECT ROME. 

Rome has not been repeated; neither has Caesar. 
Caesar and Rome have flourished and expired 
together. 

It is false to say that with Caesar came the de- 
struction of Roman greatness. Until Caesar came, 
Rome was a minor; by him she attained her 
majority, and fulfilled her destiny. 

Without Caesar there would have been no perfect 
Rome. 

QO\A)'SMlTYi— History of Rome. 

BELOVED AND REVERED BY THE PEOPLE, 

Caesar possessed shining qualities tarnished by 
ambition only. His talents were such as would 

STO. OF C/ESAR — II 



l62 

have rendered him victorious at the head of any 
army, and he would have governed in any repubhc 
that had given him birth. 

We are at a loss whether most to admire his great 
abilities or his wonderful fortune. To pretend to 
say that from the first he planned the subjection of 
his native country is doing no great credit to his 
well known penetration as a thousand obstacles 
lay in the way. Like all successful men he made 
the best of every occurrence, and his ambition rising 
with his orood fortune, at first beino: content with 
humbler aims, he at last began to think of govern- 
ing the world when he found scarcely any obstacle 
to oppose his designs. He was beloved and revered 
by the people, honored and almost adored by his 
friends, and esteemed and admired even by his 
enemies. 

JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE— Casar. 

HIS AIM FROM FIRST TO LAST WAS BETTER GOVERNMENT. 

In his public character, Caesar may be regarded 
under three aspects, as a politician, a soldier, and a 
man of letters. 

Like Cicero, Caesar entered public life at the bar. 
He belonged to the popular party, but he showed no 
disposition, like the Gracchi, to plunge into political 
agitation. His aims were practical. He made war 



i63 

only upon injustice and oppression, and when he 
commenced as a pleader he was noted for the energy 
with which he protected a client whom he believed to 
have been wronged. Cicero, who often heard him 
and was not a favorable judge, said that there was a 
pregnancy in his sentences, and a dignity in his 
manner which no orator in Rome could approach. 
But he never spoke to court popularity. His aim 
from the first to the last was better government, the 
prevention of bribery and extortion, and the distri- 
bution among deserving citizens of some portion of 
the public land which the rich were stealing. 

It was by accident Caesar took up the profession 
of a soldier, yet perhaps no commander who ever 
lived showed greater military genius. 

He was rash, but with a calculated rashness, which 
the event never failed to justify. His greatest suc- 
cesses were due to the rapidity of his movements, 
which brought him upon the enemy before they 
heard of his approach. The army was Caesar's 
family. In discipline he was lenient to ordinary 
faults and not careful to make curious inquiries into 
such things. 

Cicero has said of Caesar's oratory that he sur- 
passed those who had practiced no other art. In 
his composition, as in his actions, Caesar is entirely 
simple. The Commentaries, as historical narra- 



164 

tives, are as far superior to any other Latin compo- 
sition of the kind, as the person of Caesar himself 
stands out superior to his contemporaries. Caesar 
was the friend of the people, but he indulged in no 
enthusiasm for liberty. He was too sincere to stoop 
to unreality. He fought his battles to establish some 
degree of justice in the government of this world, 
and he succeeded, though he was murdered for it. 

Chajnbers* Encyclopedia. 
AS A HISTORIAN NEVER SURPASSED. 

His intellect was marvelously versatile. In every- 
thing he excelled. He was not only the first general 
and statesman of his age, but he was — excepting 
Cicero — its greatest orator. As a historian he has 
never been surpassed, and rarely equalled in sim- 
plicity and vigor of style, and in the truthfulness 
with which he narrates events of which he was an 
eye-witness. He was, in addition, a mathematician, 
philologist, jurist, and architect, and always took 
great pleasure in literary society. 

GEORGE l^O^Qi — Decline of the Roman Republic. 

SUPERIOR TO WASHINGTON AS A GENERAL BUT INFERIOR AS A MAN. 

It is little to say that he was a great general, that 
he was always vigilant, bold and even rash some- 



i65 

times, for there are occasions when a general must 
run great risks, and this was so in the civil war. 
But we must add that Caesar took great care of his 
men, that he looked well after his supplies, that he 
preferred conquering his enemy by cutting off their 
food, and he tried to save his soldiers and defeat the 
enemy with the least loss to himself, as a good gen- 
eral ought to do. He endured as much as he re- 
quired endurance from his men, and he ran risks of 
personal danger whenever he thought that it was 
useful. 

Caesar was a man of letters, an excellent orator, 
and well versed in the writings of the Greeks; as a 
Roman he had a competent knowledge of law, and 
he discharged the functions of a judge with ease and 
ability; he had a turn for mechanics, astronomy, 
and for grammar, and a universal capacity. 

Caesar's Commentaries are a manual for a general, 
the best that ever was written. The two roads to 
distinction at Rome were oratory and military ability; 
and Caesar was both a soldier and an orator. 

Washington, who established and administered 
honestly a new government, was far inferior as a 
general to Caesar, who only lived long enough to 
destroy an old constitution. As a man, the Ameri» 
can was immeasurably superior to the Roman, whose 
career may be better compared with that of the first 



1 66 

Napoleon, not Caesar's superior in military ability, 
and greatly below him in nobleness of character. 

THEODOR MOMMSE'^ — I/isfory of Rome. 

DESIRED NOTHING BUT TO BE FIRST AMONG HIS EQUALS, 

His talent for organization was wonderful; never 
did a statesman so cement his alliances, never did a 
commander so weld and hold together an army of 
disconnected and opposing elements, as Caesar did 
his coalitions and his legions. Never did a ruler 
judge his instruments with so penetrating a glance. 
No man ever knew better how to put the right man 
in the right place. He was a monarch, but never 
played at being king. Perfectly pliant and flexible, 
agreeable and graceful in conversation, obliging to 
every man, he appeared to desire nothing but to be 
first among his equals. No matter how much cause 
his troubled relations with the Senate gave him, he 
never had recourse to brutality. 

Caesar was a monarch, but he was never afflicted 
by the giddiness of tyranny. He accomplished the 
possible, and never neglected the good for the sake 
of the impossible better. He never disdained to 
mitigate incurable evils by, at least, palliative meas- 
ures. But wherever he recognized that fate had 
spoken, he always submitted. Like every true states- 
man he served the people not for the sake of reward, 



167 

not even for the reward of their love, but sacrificed 
the favor of his contemporaries for the blessing of 
the future, and above all for the glory of saving and 
rejuvenating his nation. 

BARTHOLD GEORG mEB\JUR — J?oman Jlhfory. 

NO GREATER MASTER AMONG ANCIENT PROSE WRITERS. 

His genius was most versatile ; he possessed an 
unexampled facility and power in all that could be 
done by intellect; he had an excellent memory, 
together with presence of mind, and the firmest re- 
liance on himself and his good fortune, being confi- 
dent that he must succeed in everythingc Owing to 
this great facility, most of his acquirements were 
not the fruits of the toilsome drudgery of the school, 
but of the cultivation and exercise of his great 
talents; thus it was with his eloquence and style. 
In the very fact that he owed nothing to art, and 
everything to himself, lay the chief secret of his 
wonderful power. He had made himself master of 
many branches of knowledge ; for while they inter- 
ested him, he devoted to them all his energy and 
attention. He was particularly remarkable for his 
acuteness and keen observation; and it is certainly 
no small honor for grammar that Caesar was so fond 
of it; his work on analogy would very likely be as 



^ 



i68 

much superior to all the grammars of that time, as 
his history was to all other works of the same kind 
which are founded on personal observation. 

That he was unscrupulous in his wars cannot be 
denied; his Gallic wars are for the most part down- 
right crimes; his conduct towards Vercingetorix 
was deplorable; it was dictated by an unhallowed 
ambition; yet he never did anything of the kind 
against his fellow citizens. His behavior to the 
Gauls may indeed be accounted for by what we 
know of the manners of the times. The ruling 
party at Rome behaved towards Caesar not only 
foolishly, but with utter injustice; they ought never 
to have hindered his offering himself from Gaul as 
a candidate for the consular dignity. If they had 
allowed him quietly to get it, matters would not 
only have gone on better than in Pompey's second 
and third consulships, but all would very likely have 
passed off peaceably, and even perhaps beneficially 
to the Republic. Had it in any way been possible 
to find a remedy for the disorders of tne state, 
Caesar was the only man to devise it, and to carry 
it out. 

As to Caesar's style, everybody knows that there 
is no greater master among ancient prose writers. 
The oftener one reads them (the Commentaries) the 
more one recognizes the hand of a great master. 



169 

Prof. BLUNTSCHLI — Lalor's Cyclopedia of Political Science. 

AS A STATESMAN THE FIRST IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. 

Caesar was more fortunate than Alexander, in this, 
that his victorious campaigns were mainly fought 
to subjugate the west of still barbarous Europe. 
He thus moved with the course of the world's his- 
tory, and his memory was borne onward by its cur- 
rent. He had no love for the people he conquered 
and to whom he brought Roman civilization. In 
the long struggle of the Gauls for freedom from for- 
eign rule Caesar, who always showed himself gener- 
ous toward the Romans, practiced all the terrible 
harshness of the military usages of Rome. He 
conquered the west exclusively from motives of 
Roman policy. Caesar loved Rome as he did him- 
self. Rome was called by destiny to unite in one 
humanely ordered empire all the nations which had 
prepared the way for, or had produced, European 
civilization accessible to the still backward nations 
of Europe. But no Roman understood this voca- 
tion of his country so well as Caesar, and no one 
did more to fulfill it than he did. If Rome ever 
became mistress of the world, Caesar deserved to 
become the head of Rome. When he recognized 
this, and strove for this mastery, he acted not from 
motives of morbid ambition, as his enemies and 



170 

enviers supposed. He desired to be first because 
he was first. The character and spirit of Rome 
were personified in him. 

He had a great reputation as an orator, even in 
those days of most briUiant formal eloquence. 
From his " Commentaries on the Gallic War," we 
learn to value his smooth and natural style, which 
describes situations and events so clearly, without 
pretension or idle ornament. His chief study, how- 
ever, was the state. Single men of antiquity may 
be named who surpassed him in all other branches 
of intellectual activity, but as a statesman he holds 
unquestionably the first rank in the ancient world. 

THOMAS KEIGHTLEY — /r/j^^O' of Rome. 

GENEROUS AND MAGNANIMOUS BUT INSATIABLY AMBITIOUS. 

Caesar was the greatest man Rome, we would 
almost say the world, ever beheld. Equally the 
general, the statesman, the orator, and the man of 
letters and taste, he must have shone in any station 
and under any form of society. His courage was 
not merely physical, it was moral ; his eloquence 
was simple and masculine ; his taste pure and ele- 
gant. He was clement, generous, and magnanimous : 
but he was also insatiably ambitious; and though 
not cruel (as no really great man is), he could shed 



I/I 

torrents of blood without remorse when he had any 
object to gain ; and though he enforced the laws 
when he had the supreme power, he had trampled 
on them with contempt when they stood in his way. 

VICTOR ViXi'^X^X— History of Rome. 

DOMINATING THE WORLD AS IT LAY STRETCHED AT HIS FEET. 

Coesar was the most complete man that Rome 
ever produced, one in whom was shown the most 
harmonious development of all faculties ; an orator 
of manly utterance ; a sober writer, free from the 
false glitter of hired eloquence ; an intrepid soldier 
from the day when it became necessary, and a 
general equal to the greatest as soon as he appeared 
with the armies. His mind, open to the lessons of 
life, forgot none of the counsels which it gives, and 
always calm amidst the wildest agitations, was ob- 
scured neither by anger nor by passion. Accord- 
ingly he saw things in their true light, and went 
straight at what was practicable. His vices did not 
disturb his strong intellect, his pleasures never in- 
jured his business. Even his victories never dazzled 
him. Though founder of a military monarchy, he 
by no means gave the first place to the army ; he 
continued master of his soldiers as of himself, and 
dominating from the summit of his fortune the 



1/2 

world as it lay stretched at his feet, he never gave 
way to the intoxication of pride, which has so often 
clouded the understanding even of superior men. 

He had the greatest of advantages — -favorable 
circumstances and mediocrity in his adversaries, but 
he found another advantage in himself — the talent 
of transforming the men and the things of the 
moment into instruments suitable to his plans. As 
he alone, in the midst of blunderers, had a fixed 
purpose, his powerful and calm will made everything 
tend to a single end, and he attained it. What does 
the astonishing fidelity of the Gauls during the 
Civil War indicate but that cleverness in appro- 
priating to himself living forces, which is the high- 
est gift of a commander ? More than once he did 
violence to fortune ; in his youth by enormous 
debts; later by military rashness; but his audacity 
was calculated and his temerity prudent; they al- 
lowed him to demand every effort from his friends 
and soldiers. His army was his family, and he was 
loved by his soldiers with the most entire devotion. 
One of his centurions having fallen into the hands 
of the Pompeians in Africa, refused, though threat- 
ened with death, to enroll himself in the enemy's 
ranks; "Give me ten of my comrades," he said to 
Scipio, " and five hundred of your men against us, 
and see what we can do." Further he could boast 



173 

as many victories as battles, and only two checks, 
very quickly and gloriously repaired. 

Even on his enemies his charm operated, for he 
employed against them a weapon new to RomC; 
clemency; and it was so natural to him that we find 
it in his writings, where not a word is said hurtful to 
his enemies. The glory of the great man who fell 
under the dagger of Brutus does not consist only in 
military success and wise statesmanship, but also in 
kindness. Between the two reigns of terror, one 
preceding him, the other following, he repudiated 
the savage customs of the Roman people of that 
time by being unwilling to confiscate or proscribe. 



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